


Echo of the Forgotten

by MrzGrumpy



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, hand holding very lewd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:01:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24981250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrzGrumpy/pseuds/MrzGrumpy
Summary: This work is a re-telling of Royal's story from mainly Kasumi's point of view. Major events will stay the same, but I will also add my own little things and change up some things as I see fit.With that out of the way, if you have any critism of sorts about this work, please let me know in the comments!
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Kurusu Akira/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Maruki Takuto & Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Yoshizawa Kasumi & Yoshizawa Sumire
Comments: 17
Kudos: 68





	1. A Way Out

It was just after practice, Kasumi and Sumire were going home from their rather difficult exercise.

“Today was brutal, huh?” Kasumi said, expecting her sister to agree, but something wasn’t right. Her little sister looked like she wasn’t in high spirits.

“Feeling okay?”

Sumire shook her head.

“It’s not that..why am I doing so bad? I keep messing up my routine..”

“Your growth spurt just changed your eye level. You’ll get used to it.” Kasumi said, smiling at her little sister, unaware of the fact that she’s actually making her sister feel worse.

“Look! You’re as tall as I am now.”

Surprisingly for Kasumi, Sumire said “We practice the same amount.. But you’re the one who always gets first place. I can’t catch up to you, Kasumi..”

Kasumi still didn’t understand how her sister was quite feeling, how she was struggling so much to catch up to Kasumi that she had given up on her own dream. Kasumi was not aware of any of it, and as a result Sumire started hating her sister.

“You want to know why? Because it’s my right as the elder sister.”

“We’re in the same grade though..”

“Aww, don’t be so down!”

Kasumi turned back, looking up on the gymnastics advertisement. She was still oblivious to her own sister’s feelings, she was caught up on her own success that all this time She kept ignoring her sister’s feelings because she never thought about how her own sister was feeling about herself.

“We’ll reach the top of the world together..that’s our dream, right?”

Again, much to Kasumi’s surprise, Sumire said “You don’t get it..you’ll never understand how I feel.”

Perhaps it was only at this moment that Kasumi finally snapped out of the feeling she kept getting caught in her own success, because that’s when Sumire started running towards the road while the light was red.

How she was inferior to her sister..how people wanted Kasumi instead of her..how she wanted to be like her sister..How Kasumi is the talented one that  _ can  _ reach the top of the world..Those thoughts were overwhelming for Sumire, she wasn’t looking at where she was going, or realized what was happening around her at the moment.

“Sumire, stop! Listen to me!”

She wasn’t stopping however, she still kept going, she wasn’t hearing her own sister. She didn’t  _ want  _ to hear her.

However, just at that moment, a car was speeding up to Sumire. She was getting really close to being hit. With her rush of adrenaline, however, she managed to put up quite a lot of distance to her sister.

“SUMIRE!”

Kasumi tried to get in the way of the car to save her sister from the impact, but..

She couldn’t.

Kasumi had failed to reach her sister to save her.

Sumire was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Just like that, her little sister was now gone. And it was because of her that Sumire died. Just as she failed to understand her sister, she failed to save her.

“..Wh-Wha..” Kasumi was in shock, unable to utter out words, she fell on her knees, unable to contain her tears. Her sister lying dead on the ground alone was too much, because she loved her so much. They weren’t just sisters though, in Kasumi’s eyes, they were rivals. Rivals that would reach the top of the world together by keeping each other in shape.

It wouldn’t have been too long before the news had reached her parents.

* * *

*A few days later...*

Kasumi had no real motivation to continue practicing. Her own source of motivation was gone. She got her sister killed, and was oblivious to her feelings. She didn’t understand how she felt all this time, because she didn’t care in her head; she has only seen her as a stepping tool to her success. Those thoughts were overwhelming her after her little sister died.

Worthless. A bad sister. Sumire died because of me.

That was all she was thinking in her head at the moment as she was making her way to Dr. Maruki’s office. Her parents got her an appointment, because she was broken.

Kasumi had made her way into her seat as the Doctor greeted her, but she was walking to her seat rather slowly; she was clearly in pain still, trying to hold it together, but she couldn't. Dr. Maruki obviously noticed this, but decided not to say anything. At least, not yet anyway.

Kasumi couldn’t even bring herself to look at the Doctor’s face as she was just looking down at the table.

“So, you’re Kasumi Yoshizawa, huh? I’m Dr. Maruki, I’ll be your counsellor. First of all, thank you for coming to see me.”

Kasumi didn’t say anything, she only just nodded.

“I’m sorry, I don’t really know what to discuss, I didn’t actually even want to come here, but my parents were insistent that I did..”

“That’s fine. So, do you wanna just chat until our time’s up, then?”

“Chat..I haven’t really chatted with anyone for a few days..”

“Well, I’m not going to force you. If you don’t want to talk, that’s quite fine, I can’t really force you. Oh, and I’ve got some sweets and some salty snacks there, feel free to have at them.”

Kasumi looked at the sweets for a moment, but decided not to eat one at the moment. It’s not that she didn’t want to talk about it, she couldn’t say anything to her parents because she felt guilty. She wanted to spill her heart out to the doctor, hoping that it might actually make her feel better. But..

She still couldn’t take that first step. So she decided to wait until the Doctor said something.

“So..let’s start with.. Ah. How about, what’d you eat for lunch yesterday?” said Dr. Maruki.

Kasumi didn’t give an answer.

“I’ll go first. The other day, a friend of mine gave me a ton of apples. I’ve grown tired of eating them by themselves—yesterday I thought, why not try using them as a meal ingredient? So, I tried making an apple dish for lunch, but that didn’t turn out too hot.. What do you think I have ended up making?”

Kasumi wasn’t really good at food making, so she just shrugged instead of actually talking.

“Shrimp in chili sauce—with apples. You know how sweet-and-sour pork can have pineapple in it? I was going for that, but..”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not really good at cooking myself, so I’m not really sure what to say..I’m more focused on gymnastics.”

“I see..how’s practice going for you? Has it been rough lately?”

“It has been rough..I mean, it’s nothing I can’t handle..but I’ve been doing really bad because I didn’t have any motivation..”

“Sorry to hear it..do you enjoy gymnastics?”

“I..really enjoyed it, but now..it feels painful to me. My..younger sister and I made a promise. We’d both compete and win the biggest gymnastics awards in the world. But..”

Kasumi looked down on the table, unable to look at the Doctor’s face.

“She..passed away. She ran into the road when the light was red. I couldn’t save her from the vehicle. It’s my fault she got killed..”

Kasumi started tearing up just as she finished her sentence.

“I have been a really bad sister.. I ignored how she was feeling, I couldn’t – no, I didn’t want to understand how she was feeling. I was the one who let her run up to the road and I was the one who got her killed. I wanted us to be the best in the world, but now she’s gone, and it’s all my fault!”

Kasumi started breathing to catch her breath after she expressed her frustrations. She wanted to get all of that out, but she couldn’t until now.

“I’m sorry..I didn’t mean to yell.”

“There’s no need to apologize here. If there’s something you need to get off your chest, please do so.”

“Sometimes..I cannot help but think that, maybe..I should’ve been the one who died there, instead of my sister. She’s gone now, and as much as I want her to be alive again with me, eating ice cream..I can’t do that with her anymore..”

Doctor Maruki seemed troubled, his powers weren’t enough yet to bring back a dead person. He knew this quite well, but he also wanted to help her so much.

“You want her back..huh? Well, anyone can get behind that.”

“I just..want to be able to move on..but I can’t when it’s my fault that she had died..”

“I don’t think whatever happened is your fault, Yoshizawa-san.”

“But I—“

“You want to be able to move on, right? Would it help you if you could forget about what happened with her?”

Kasumi looked back at the table again for a moment. She was thinking about this deeply. On one point, she didn’t want to forget about what happened, but on the other point..

She was a murderer. She couldn’t live with that pain. She was an idiot.

She looked back to the doctor again.

“I..don’t want to live with this pain, doctor..I’ve been trying and trying, but I cannot forgive myself for what happened, I cannot continue living with this pain any longer. I’m nearing my breaking point emotionally, at this point, I’ll..”

Thoughts like suicide came to her mind. But that was a cowardly way out. She just wants a way out, but nothing like suicide. She quickly shrugged off that thought.

“I understand what you mean, Yoshizawa-san. It’d be much easier for you to forget about the pain instead of trying to live with it. I’ll help you with it.

Kasumi nodded.

“Now..remember what had happened. I want you to think that what happened is in no way your fault at all. Try to think that. I’m sure you can do that, just.. believe in yourself.”

Kasumi wanted to believe that everything that happened wasn’t her fault, but she was struggling just to think about the incident in any other way.

And then..it happened. Dr. Maruki used his power to make her forget about Sumire, deleting her entirely from her cognition.

Kasumi snapped back to reality, looking at the Doctor. Her face expression has changed significantly, she was no longer looking sad, she was rather now looking really energetic. Ready to face the world.

“How about it? Are you feeling any better now?” Said Dr. Maruki.

“Yes..I feel like a weight’s been lifted off of me. You’re amazing, Doctor!”

“Haha, it’s no big deal... Still, it seems like my counseling approach does some good after all.”

Kasumi started looking around, and she was confused, trying to think about what they were talking about, but she was drawing a blank.

“I’m sorry, I don’t really remember what we were talking about again.”

“Oh don’t worry, we were just chatting about things like whether or not you like gymnastics.

“Oh! I’m not even sure why I said that I don’t have any real motivation, I just want to be able to surpass myself to become the best in the world!”

Maruki smiled at her comment as she had changed significantly at that moment. She was like an entirely different person just a few moments ago, and now she’s feeling more confident again.

“Hm..? Is something wrong?” Kasumi asked, confused at the Doctor’s reaction.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Good luck with your training.”

“Right—I’ll do my best! For my own sake!” She said, smiling with a lot of confidence to the Doctor.

“Ah, it seems like our time is about up. You’re free to come visit me later if you want, Yoshizawa-san.”

“I will, thank you once again, Doctor!”

She got up from her seat and started making her way to the exit. She waved at the doctor, and the doctor had waved at her back. She felt like nothing could stop her at the moment, with her amount of confidence she has, nothing can possibly get in her way.

..Or so she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been updated to bring it up to a higher quality. Huge thanks to Dev for taking his time to beta read my chapter!  
> Dev's works: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800358
> 
> I would still like to thank Monk and Doq for beta reading it when I asked them for their help!  
> Monk's work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23806528/chapters/57196321  
> Doq's work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919799


	2. A Painful Headache

Kasumi had made her way back to her home from the councillor’s office. Compared to how she was like when she went to Dr. Maruki’s office, she was practically shining.

“Kasumi! How’d it go? You look practically happier compared to how you were in the morning.” Shinichi said, with a relieved expression on his face.

“It went well, dad. I feel much better now thanks to Dr. Maruki!”

Kasumi’s mom had a relieved expression on her face as well. It was as if her daughter was just reborn and became an entirely different person in just one day. The thought made her head spin.

Kasumi made her way into her room. On the way to her room, she noticed the room of her deceased sister, Sumire. She tried to remember what this room was as she felt like she should know something about it, but nothing came to her mind. She tried going into the room but she suddenly got a really painful headache whenever she tried, as if something was blocking her from entering.

She was surprised at this considerably, but she had no real time to think about it right now, because she was concerned about her practice tomorrow. She changed her gym clothes and went to eat dinner with her family.

Dinner wasn’t really anything special by much. They had curry to eat, with Kasumi eating a lot more compared to her parents because of her gymnast nature. It was all a normal dinner, until...

“Kasumi, what did you and the doctor talk about?” Shinichi asked.

“Oh, we talked about gymnastics and other little things.” She said, smiling sheepishly.

Shinichi raised an eyebrow at her statement.

“Didn’t you talk about your sister at all?”

Because of Maruki’s power, Kasumi didn’t hear this statement as how her father actually said it, to her it sounded like “Didn’t you talk about anything else?”.

“No, we didn’t. But I’m feeling a lot better compared to how I was in the morning thanks to Dr. Maruki!”

Shinichi was confused. Her daughter was devastated over her little sister’s death so much that she refused to really talk to them. Not to mention her mood changed entirely in just one day, which sounded rather weird. But he decided not to pursue the matter, because he was happy to see his daughter happy again, not wanting to take that happiness away.

After dinner, Kasumi went back to her room. She was supposed to be attending high school soon, wondering how different life will be. Maybe she’ll meet new people that she’ll get along with. People that would be willing to listen to her.

However, she also realized she doesn’t have any friends right now.

Something wasn’t right. Something felt lacking. She had this weird feeling that she was always with someone else with her entire life. But whenever she started thinking about it…

Headache. A painful headache.

Kasumi held her head from the sudden rush of pain. She thought that feeling must have been false since she felt a rush of pain whenever it happened. So, it has to be a wrong feeling, right? She decided not to think about that again and decided to go to sleep to be ready for tomorrow.

* * *

At practice the next day Kasumi was performing much better, which was in complete contrast to her performance a few days back. Her coach noticed this, but she knew that Kasumi performed better when her sister watched her perform. Something wasn’t right.

“Kasumi, I noticed you are performing much better compared to the past few days. How are you feeling?” said Coach Hiraguchi.

“I’m feeling much better compared to a few days ago. I don’t even remember why I was feeling so down, but I feel like I can accomplish anything regardless!”

“…Did you forget about your sister’s death?”

“Hm? Forget about what?” Kasumi asked, with a surprised emotion on his face. It was obvious to Coach that she had entirely forgotten about her sister’s death.

Coach Hiraguchi’s face grew a little tense. Kasumi noticed this, and due to her coach’s strict nature, this scared her a little. Kasumi was trying to think about what she had forgotten. Was it something with her routine? No, that couldn’t be it. Her coach said that she performed her routine well, so what was it she forgot?

“I’m sorry, Coach… But I really don’t know what you are talking about. Am I supposed to remember something?”

Coach Hiraguchi decided not to press on the issue. At least, for the time being. She wasn’t sure about what happened or what Kasumi did to make her forget about her own sister’s death, but she was performing exceptionally well, as if it hadn’t affected her at all.

“Listen, Kasumi… don’t forget about those who you held closest to you. I want you to think about this later, we’re done for today.”

“Huh? Think about those who I held closest to me…?”

“Yes. Think through it well. Your performance today was something to note compared to how your performance was a few days ago. But you are lacking something, something that will hurt your performance in the long run later.”

“…Yes, ma’am…”

“Good. Since you have high school coming up, we won’t be having practice for a few days so you can adjust to your school life. But that doesn’t mean you can slack off during this period. Make sure to keep practicing on your own by yourself. You need to make up for those last few days.

“Yes, ma’am! I’ll do my best!”

Kasumi nodded and decided to make her way to home after she got changed. In the changing room, she was thinking about what the Coach had told her. What did she mean by that? Before long however, she snapped out of her thoughts, realizing that she was supposed to register to school tomorrow. She changed to her usual clothes and made her way to home.

At home, it wasn’t that much different compared to yesterday, but Kasumi still couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something. She forgot about something. She also remembered what her Coach said to her. “Don’t forget those you held closest to you.” Was what she said. But what did she mean by that? Was there someone like that besides her parents? She thought of pursuing this line of thought, but then…

A headache. It was enough to make Kasumi wince suddenly. She wanted to think about what her coach told her, but she couldn’t even do that. Why? Why was this happening?

“Kasumi, what’s wrong?” Shinichi asked, troubled by the fact that she suddenly winced in pain.

“H-Huh? O-Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it…”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes dad, I’m sure.”

Shinichi decided to not push the matter any further than that.

“By the way, you do remember you have school coming up, right?” Shinichi asked.

“Yeah, I remember. Coach said we won’t be doing practices for a few days because of school.”

“I see. Well, I’ll take you to school tomorrow so that you won’t have to bother with the train.”

“Thanks, dad.”

Kasumi stopped thinking about what Coach Hiraguchi said for now and decided to finish her food. She felt like tomorrow was going to be a bit of a long day, for some reason. She kept thinking to herself that she wished she had someone to talk to around her age.

After eating dinner, Kasumi decided to go into her room. The time was around 10:45 PM, which was nearing her bedtime. She was still thinking of what her coach told her. She remembered that there was also this weird room in her room that she could not enter for some reason because of how much pain it causes her. She did not bring this up with her parents because she thought they would think that she is crazy. Something like that is not a normal occurrence in any way or shape.

She decided to leave her room to see if her parents were around the hallway or not, but they were also in their room. She decided to approach this mysterious room again and try opening it again, to pique her curiosity. However, just like the last time…

Headache. A severe headache once again. It intensified the more she got closer to the doorknob to open the door.

The pain made her feel like her head was going to split open in two, she felt like that might happen if she tried forcing her way in. She decided to leave the room alone for good. She was scared to ask about the room itself, because she thought it might be related to the other thought that gives her a headache, but again, she couldn’t pursue this line of thought.

She went back to her room and decided to take a rest for now. She wanted to think about what her coach told her, but…

“I’m sorry, Coach…” she thought, disappointed in herself. She couldn’t really tell this to anyone, except for one person.

She wanted to see Dr. Maruki again.

However, with school coming up, it was going to be hard to do that for now. Maybe when she gets the chance later…

* * *

The following day, Kasumi had made her way into the principal’s office for Shujin academy. At the school gates, she saw a kid with rowdy hair. He had glasses that reflected the light off his lenses, covering his eye entirely and giving him an ominous look. She thought he looked impressive, but she didn’t have time to think about that.

In the principal’s office, she was greeted by the principal and a different teacher that she didn’t recognize.

“You must be Kasumi Yoshizawa, correct?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Since you are a high school student with gymnastics, we’re going to give you the honor student status because you have your own studies to worry about. However, keep in mind that if you don’t perform well in the competitions, your honor student status will get removed.”

Kasumi looked at her father to see if he approved of those conditions or not.

“Very well, I’ll accept your terms for this.”

“Since you are a honor student, I decided to assign you to a class whose homeroom teacher is the best one we consider in terms of their attitude.

Kasumi nodded. Her father had already signed the papers.

“I’m Sadayo Kawakami. Here’s your student ID.”

She put Kasumi’s ID card on the desk and Kasumi had picked it up.

“Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. If by any chance you cause problems, your honor student status will get removed as well.”

Kasumi nodded. All those terms were acceptable. At least, for her.

“If that is all, can we get going now? We don’t want to take much of your time any longer.” Said Shinichi.

“Yoshizawa-san, please make sure she stays out of trouble. We heard of what had happened with her sister a few days ago, and it would be a shame if something like that were to happen again.”

Shinichi remembered what had happened and just nodded with a troubled face. But Kasumi on the other hand…

Just what were they talking about? She wanted to ask but she decided not to, remembering the weird headaches she was getting. It was starting to annoy her too…

* * *

The following day, Kasumi was in her school uniform. Since her dad had a job of his own, she had to take the train to go to her school. Thankfully, her dad had told her to take an umbrella before she left the home since he checked the weather report, and so she was able to make her way to school without being out in the rain.

Kasumi had made her way into her class. However, due to her gymnastics nature, people around here were quick to gossip.

“Hey, is that Kasumi Yoshizawa?”

“Yeah, the gymnast that is really successful. I heard she always wins first place.”

“Hey, didn’t her sister die because of her, apparently?”

“I heard that she pushed her own sister to the road because she didn’t want her to compete…”

Of course, Kasumi couldn’t really hear those last gossips. She was confused as to what the people were talking about, but…

“Must be nice having honor student status. You don’t have to worry about your studies at all…”

“Yeah, I bet all she cares about is gymnastics and nothing else.”

What Kasumi had managed to hear made her wish she’d never heard anything at all. She didn’t have any real friends, and it didn’t sound like she was going to be able to make any friends in her school due to how she was recognized. What was she going to do here? Maybe they did have a point. Maybe all she cared about was her gymnastics, if she cared about something else, maybe she would have been able to make friends with others.

This felt familiar to Kasumi. She felt like someone said this to her before. And it felt like it wasn’t too long ago either. But…

A headache once again. She felt helpless, she wished to be able to talk to Dr. Maruki again, she felt like he was the only one that could help her through this. She felt like her confidence was breaking apart again, she needed someone to rely on. Someone she can trust.

But the problem was that she couldn’t entirely trust Dr. Maruki because she wanted it to be someone from around her age, someone she can actually relate to the most. But she started doubting whether or not she can actually find someone like that.

While those thoughts were on her head, her homeroom teacher had entered the classroom, and she decided to put those thoughts aside. For now anyway. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has left a kudos and comments! It might not be much, but I appreciate every bit of support, it really helps me get motivated!


	3. A New Friend

4/11

Kasumi’s first lecture wasn’t anything special, it was just some mathematics. Her little sister Sumire would have been struggling with this lesson, but for Kasumi it was rather easy, because she kept her studies consistently with her schedules.

She paid full attention to the lecture, but she couldn’t help but feel like the classroom had some..hostile air around it. Like the people around her didn’t really like her. She thought that maybe she should try being nice to the people around her later to show them she isn’t that bad.

It was also an act out of desperation. She didn’t want to be hated due to her honor student status.

During the lunch break, she had tried approaching people. Unfortunately for her, she was either ignored or people had walked away from her whenever she tried to talk to the people around her. What was she supposed to do in this situation? She wondered to herself.

She decided to wait at her desk and see if someone would approach her instead after grabbing her lunch. Unfortunately for her, no one really approached her either.

“Is this how the whole year is going to go..?” She thought to herself. She didn’t really have any friends up to this point, and it doesn’t seem like she’ll be able to make any soon here either. She was hoping to cure her loneliness, but that’s not going to work, it seems.

Her phone buzzed. She got a message from her dad.

Dad:

_Hi Kasumi, just checking in on you. How was your day so far on the first day of the school?_

Kasumi:

_It’s not what I quite expected. Everyone isn’t really talking to me even though I tried approaching them._

Dad:

_Will you be alright? If you want, we can arrange an appointment with Dr. Maruki again._

Kasumi:

_No, dad. It’s alright. I’ll be fine. Class is about to start soon. Talk to you later?_

Dad:

_Okay. Make sure you pay attention in class. We can talk about this later. Love you, Kasumi._

Kasumi:

_Love you too, dad._

In reality, she really wanted to see Dr. Maruki. But she didn’t want to worry her father by wanting to do so. But at this rate...

She thought she might slowly go insane. In middle school, she didn’t have any friends, but at least people were being nice to her even if she couldn’t hang out with them. But this time, people are actually avoiding her and being mean to her. At this rate, she might actually ask her father to see Dr. Maruki again.

Her thoughts were cut short again when the teacher walked to her class again. This time, it was going to be a history lecture.

“History, huh..?” She thought to herself. She was always interested in history itself. She was looking forward to the lecture.

After the school had ended for that day, Kasumi was thinking about what her father said. It didn’t feel like she could hang on for long at this rate. She _needs_ someone to talk to, and there isn’t anyone like that. She snapped out of her thoughts and packed her belongings to her bag and decided to leave. However, she couldn’t avoid thinking that. Those thoughts were so overwhelming she bumped into a student.

The sudden bump snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see who she bumped into. It was that same kid she saw at school gates yesterday.

“That’s no good. You should keep your head up while walking.” He said with a smirk.

“Oh, pardon me!” She said, followed by a bow.

She started making her way out until the same boy called out for her again.

“Hey, wait. You dropped this.” He had her pocketbook.

“Oh, thank you so much! I didn’t even realize it..”

She went to take her pocketbook back. It was rather a strange feeling, though. Someone was actually acting nice to her. She felt like this boy could be her friend at school. Even if it’s only one, it would significantly help her relax at school. So she decided to ask him his name.

“By the way..what’s your name, if I may ask?”

“I’m Ren. Ren Amamiya. Second year.”

“Oh, so that makes you my senpai then..”

“What about you?”

“I’m Kasumi Yoshizawa. First year. Glad to have met you, senpai!.”

“Yoshizawa...” He thought about how familiar the name sounded to him, but decided not to ask for now.

“Is something the matter?”

“Oh, nothing.” Ren said, snapping out of his thoughts.

“Well, I have to go home now, maybe we can talk later, senpai.”

“Yeah, maybe.” How weird it was, besides Ryuji, she was the other person that decided to approach him. He thought that maybe she didn’t have much friends either, and he was willing to get to know her as well. There was a weird air about her that he wanted to know about.

* * *

**4/12**

The next day, she was waiting at the train station. People around her were talking about her.

“Look, isn’t that her?”

“You mean that one with the red ribbon? Uh, I guess so?”

“She’s so thin..It’s not fair, I’ve got my hair in a ponytail too...”

Of course, Ren was also there. He decided to go talk to her while she was on the train. Kasumi managed to find an empty seat to sit on. She didn’t realize Ren was also there, however.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Ren said, looking at her.

Kasumi snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see that it was her senpai that she met yesterday. She was so happy to see him.

“Oh, senpai! I wasn’t aware you were on the same train as me.”

“I wasn’t expecting to find you here either.”

Kasumi noticed how there was an old lady standing in front of her and she thought it was rude of her to sit down right in front of the old lady like that. She decided to offer the old lady her seat, it was the least she could do.

“Please, take my seat. My station’s coming up.”

She moved to let the old lady sit, but a man grabbed the seat really quickly as soon as she moved.

“Oh wow, what speed! I mean—Excuse me, that seat was for this lady...”

The man looked at Kasumi, and then immediately fell asleep. However, she was almost sure that the man was pretending to sleep there just so that he doesn’t have to argue against them. How rude of an act this was. He seemed no different than the people at her school, it filled her with disgust. But at the same time..

She could understand how the man himself was feeling. For all she knows, maybe he is going through hard times as well like her. So she decided to ignore it.

“Want me to ‘wake him up’?” Ren said, looking at Kasumi.

“It’s all right. I can understand his position as well.” She said, with a bit of a lie. She wanted Ren to ‘wake him up’, because does that still excuse his behavior? But she decided not to, because she wanted to avoid trouble for now.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t be any help...”

“It’s all right, dearie. Don’t you worry.”

“Please, allow me to carry your luggage, at least.”

“Thank you! Ain’t it heavy, though?”

“Not at all! I train plenty!”

‘Train..?’ Ren thought to himself, what was it she could be training for? He decided to make a mental note of it and ask her about it later when he gets the chance. It seemed like there was more to Kasumi then it met the eye. She did seem popular as well. He wanted to know why.

After leaving the train, Ren started making his way towards his school. However, a voice called out to him.

“Senpai, wait!”

He turned around to see that it was Kasumi.

“Thank you so much for earlier.”

“With what?”

“For speaking up when I offered my seat on the train. The thought about thanking you on the train had slipped my mind, I remembered when I got off the train, so—“

“Kasumi, you’ve nothing to thank me for. It was just the right thing to do.” He said, cutting her off.

“Senpai..” She said, but nodding in an understanding manner.

“By the way, you can just call me Ren. You don’t have to be so formal.” He said, with a smirk.

“Okay..Ren...” It was kind of awkward for her to call him by his name like that, but she figured she would be able to get used to that as well, she was Kasumi Yoshizawa, after all.

“Um..excuse me, senpa- Ren. I need to get to school soon. Let’s talk later.”

“Sure, I’ll look forward to it.”

With that, Kasumi nodded and quickly made her way to school. She didn’t quite show it, but she was really happy that she had found someone she can talk to at school. She was happy it was someone new; she didn’t have any friends whatsoever for a long time, so she was kind of nervous. But she thought that it would be alright, because she didn’t feel like he had a lot of friends either.

While in class, Kasumi thought to herself whether or not she should really pay attention to class. On one hand, she had her honor student status so she could easily ignore the lessons and it would still turn out okay. But one other hand, she wanted to make those people who were gossiping around her wrong. She wanted to show them that Kasumi Yoshizawa is just like everyone else, not that much different.

She had heard some rumors about a transfer student. That they assaulted someone, they committed burglary, murder and...elephant tusk trafficking? She thought about how ridiculous that sounded like. She thought that those rumors were not quite credible, because after all it was just that. Rumors. People were doing the same thing to her as well.

Time was barely passing however, she was really eager to look forward to the lunch break. She wasn’t going to have much time after school due to her gymnastics starting again today. After the lecture had ended and the lunch break started, Kasumi decided to make her way towards the second year’s classrooms.

She looked around each class till she could spot Ren. She decided to make her way towards him.

“Senpai!”

Ren was a bit startled because he was looking down at this phone, he was not expecting to see Kasumi here.

“Oh, hey. What’s up?”

“Um... well, I wanted to talk with you, if you don’t...mind.” She thought about how weird she was acting. Well, not that she had any friends to begin with, so she thought it was only natural she was acting weird, but it was still a bad feeling.

“Sure, I don’t mind. Let’s talk it over while we’re eating though.” He said with a smirk. Kasumi noticed how hungry she was as well, so she agreed and they decided to make their way towards the cafeteria. While Ren had some food with him, he was taken back from just...how much food Kasumi had with her. “Is she really going to eat all that?” He thought, still looking at her with a surprised face.

“Senpai, what’s wrong?”

“Are you really going to...eat all that?”

“Oh, all this? It might look too much, but trust me, I burn all of it while training.

“Yeah, you said something about training today on the train. What exactly are you training for?”

“Oh, I’m a gymnast! I have to eat plenty to keep my form.”

He was still genuinely amazed at it. She was rather really slim, and she was still able to eat all that. He thought about how intensive her training must be in order to be able to burn all of that.

“You seem really popular based on how people were talking about you this morning.”

“Well... I came first place in all of the competitions I had joined in. It’s not really surprising people are aware of who I am.”

“First place, huh..?” Ren pondered to himself.

“Is..that surprising?”

“Well, I can only imagine how intensive your training must be based on what you are eating. So I think that’s a pretty good achievement, Kasumi.”

“Oh, thanks, senpai...”

“Didn’t I tell you that you can call me just Ren?”

“Yes, senpa—Ren. Sorry, it’s a force of habit.”

Ren just smirked at her and she pouted. But she was actually really happy that she had someone she could talk to at her school.

Kasumi looked at her phone to check the time and there were only a few minutes left before the classes start again for that day.

“Oh, we don’t have that much time left...” Kasumi said, with a disappointed tone and expression on her face.

“Um... Ren, can we talk more later?”

“But of course, Lady Kasumi.” Ren said, with a grin.

“..W-What? What are you implying?”

“Nothing.” Ren said, grinning even more.

Kasumi pouted but she didn’t have much time left. Was he...teasing her? She wasn’t really sure what to think of that. She just decided to quickly make her way to her class for the lecture again, waving at her senpai while quickly leaving.

Those...lectures were really starting to bore Kasumi. She tried her best to pay as much attention as she can during class, but during one point she almost fell asleep while trying to focus. She tried to clear out her head by telling herself that she’ll get to practice soon to vent out her frustrations. To a degree anyway.

After anxiously waiting for the final ring, she quickly made her way out of school to practice. Her practice today however, it seemed a little bit worse compared to her previous one. It was quite good, but just a little...worse. Of course, Coach noticed this.

“You did good today, Kasumi. But I noticed you were performing a little bit worse today than usual. Is something on your mind?”

“School has been rough lately...I tried approaching people but I could only talk to one person and...I guess I was just thinking about him, that’s why I got a little distracted I think.”

“Oh? And who is he?”

“He’s a second year student, Ren Amamiya. I met him yesterday while leaving for home but I only got to learn his name properly just today. He felt really amazing to talk to.”

“Sounds to me like you got a crush on him already, Kasumi.”

“W-What? No, it’s not like t-that...”

“Then why are you stuttering?”

“C-Coach!” Kasumi said, pouting. Usually she isn’t the one that gets teased, so this caught her off guard.

“Alright, alright.” Coach said, with a small laugh. However, her expression quickly changed.

“You’ve been thinking about what I had said before, right?”

“..Yes, ma’am. I have been, but...” Kasumi had a troubled expression on her face. She was fidgeting, unsure of what to say. Coach didn’t know what to say either. Something was obviously not right with Kasumi. She wouldn’t have entirely forgotten about her sister like that out of the blue. But she didn’t think Kasumi was lying about it either, that she was being genuinely honest. Coach decided to no longer pursue this matter any further.

“I see. In that case, you’re free to go for today. Don’t forget that you have practice tomorrow as well.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Kasumi went to change to her usual attire again. She was still confused about some things, like Coach’s expression on her face and her question. What was the point of all of those..?

“Well, what does it matter anyway? I don’t think I forgot about something important after all...” Kasumi said, sighing as she finished her thought and changed to her usual attire, making her way to home.

* * *

**4/13**

The next day wasn’t too much different, but at least this time the lecture was about mathematics, which she can at least pay attention to without getting bored and sleepy...for the most part anyway.

She heard of the upcoming volleyball rally, which probably meant she wasn’t going to be able to talk to her senpai today due to the volleyball rally. Come to think of it, she didn’t have his contact info either. She was shy to ask for it however, because they haven’t known each other for that long yet. But when she would get the chance...

Unfortunately for Kasumi, not being able to talk to Ren today made her perform worse compared to yesterday as well. Coach knew this, but she understood what Kasumi was going through, so she decided not to bring it up, because she was aware that Kasumi knew about it as well.

Kasumi thought to herself for a moment. She was fine all this time alone. Why now of all times when she gets to talk to someone that she can’t perform as good? Why does she keep thinking of Ren when she didn’t really think about anyone like that before? Is it Ren’s fault that she is performing really bad? No...that’s not it, she thought. Getting to know Ren better would probably help her.

As usual, she had made her way to her home again, and hoped that nothing would get in the way tomorrow to prevent her from talking to Ren.

* * *

**4/14**

Once again, Kasumi was in her class. Intently waiting for the lunch time to come so that she can go talk to her senpai. It was a boring lecture once again, trying to keep awake. She thought about how much energy she spends trying to stay awake in her class rather than actually studying for the lecture itself. It was a weird thought.

Lunch time had finally come, but...

“Kasumi, could you come with me to the faculty office?” Her homeroom teacher called. This made her sad because it probably meant she won’t have time to talk with her senpai about it.

“Okay...” she said, making her way to the faculty office with her teacher.

“Um...did I do something wrong?” Kasumi said, confused by the sudden notion.

“I’ve noticed that you’re trying your best in the class.”

“Yes, what about it?”

“You know you don’t really have to do that. You should be more concerned about your gymnastics rather than being concerned with your grades. The school gave you the honor status because of your gymnastics. If you end up doing bad in regards to your gymnastics, there might be consequences.”

“...Yes, ma’am. I understand...”

“I didn’t tell you this to make you feel bad about it. You can ease up during class, your teachers wouldn’t mind. As long as you pass your exams with an average score anyway.

Kasumi thought about the offer, but she also remembered that she wasn’t at ease during class because of the gossip going on around her.

“I’ll...think about it.”

Her homeroom teacher nodded. “Good. I’m sorry for taking your time, you better get food quickly because the classes will start again soon.”

Kasumi nodded, and quickly went to get food by herself. She had no time to ask her senpai about it.

Finally, her classes have ended and she once again made her way to the practice. She was still not performing as she wanted to, her Coach was thinking that maybe she needed a break from gymnastics, but she figured it’s too early to decide on that. Once again, Kasumi had made her way to home after the practice, still not too happy with herself, hoping that at least tomorrow she can talk to her senpai.

* * *

**4/15**

The next day, she was at school again, listening to the lecture at her class. She was thinking about how she didn’t need to pay attention, but she figured she can keep up in her grades as well as gymnastics, so she decided to at the very least pay attention in class if she can’t fully commit to the lecture. Something unexpected had happened however, while the lecture was still going.

Her classmates had suddenly got over to the window. She decided to see what was going on herself and when she looked out of the window, she saw a female student at the rooftop.

“Hey, isn’t that Shiho-san?” One of the male students said.

“Yeah..is she trying to suicide!?” A female student said.

“She’s going to jump!” Another student said.

“Woah, woah...everyone, calm down and remain in your seat!” Teacher said, trying to keep everyone in place. But no one really paid attention to her. People even left their class. Kasumi had also decided to leave the class to follow them. She looked through the hallway window and...

She saw the girl jump. Just like that.

Right at this moment, Kasumi got a really bad headache. This felt too familiar to her. But why? Why was it familiar to her? What was it she forgot about? She didn’t have too much time to think about that however, people moved out of the hallway to outside, it was hard trying to get through all those people, but when she finally got out, she saw what had happened.

She was shocked, she didn’t know that girl personally, but to think someone would actually try to take their own life like that... Just how much was she pushed to her limit?

She saw Ren and a blonde guy next to him. Not too long after, a girl ran up to Shiho, and she was on her knees, crying.

“Shiho..why...?”

“Ann...?”

A brief pause.

“I’m sorry...I... I can’t take this... anymore...”

“Shiho...?”

A brief pause again when Ann leaned into Shiho to hear what she had to say.

Kasumi couldn’t hear the rest of it. Shiho was sent to the hospital with Ann. But she did see Ren and the blonde haired kid hurrying up for some reason. She wanted to follow them, but...

“Everyone! Head back to your class immediately!”

It wouldn’t be right of her to follow someone like that. And she was told to go to her class anyway. She decided to give up for now and make her way to the class. Maybe she can ask Ren about it later.

Lunchtime had finally hit again that day. Kasumi had decided to look for her senpai in his classroom. She had seen him in his class and decided to approach him, but...

He looked rather troubled a bit.

“Senpai?”

Ren snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Kasumi.

“Hey.”

“Um...is everything alright?”

“Don’t worry about it. How are you doing though? Since that thing happened today.”

Kasumi got a headache again remembering that. She held her head in a sudden motion.

“Are you alright?” Ren asked, concernedly.

“Y-Yes..sorry, senpai. I get headaches sometimes for reasons I can’t understand...”

Ren raised an eyebrow but decided not to question it. He had seen weirder things than that after all.

“Anyway...do you want to eat lunch with me again, senpai?”

“Sure.” He needed something to distract himself after what had happened today.

They both had made their way to the cafeteria again. But Ren was still bothered by the events that had happened in the morning. He wanted to tell Kasumi about it, but he decided that it would be best if he left her out of it.

They both had made their way to a table after grabbing their lunch again. Ren was eating his food but he was obviously thinking about something else as well. Kasumi had noticed this while she was eating.

“Senpai, are you really alright? You look troubled.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m fine, really.” He said, with a smirk.

Kasumi looked at him for a few seconds and decided not to pursue the issue, she only just nodded.

“By the way... you were a gymnast, right?”

“Yup! What about it?”

“I was just wondering...”

“Yes?”

“...If you could teach your moves as well.”

Ren figured that he’d ask her this, because he thought it might help him a lot in the metaverse.

“Okay, but I have one condition, senpai.”

“What is it?”

“Lately, my performance has been deteriorating and I’m starting to fear that I might not get the results I want from competitions. Could you...give me advice for it, when you’ve the time?”

“Sure you want my help?”

“Of course I am! I just need you to lend me an ear from time to time.”

“In that case, hope I’m helpful to you.”

“Then we have sealed the deal!” Kasumi said, with a grin. 

**_I am thou, thou art I..._ **

**_Thou hast acquired a new vow._ **

****

**_It shall become the the wings of the rebellion_ **

**_that breaketh thy chains of captivity._ **

****

**_With the birth of the Faith Persona,_ **

**_I have obtained the winds of blessing that_ **

**_shall lead to freedom and new power..._ **

****

The same voice he heard of before had echoed through in Ren’s mind. 'Faith arcana, huh?' He thought to himself.

“By the way, we should exchange contact information.” Kasumi said, figuring it’s a good time to ask him that since they’ve cut a deal.

Ren nodded and they exchanged their contact information.

“Oh! Looks like our time is running short once again...I’ll talk to you later, senpai.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Kasumi nodded and left the cafeteria, into her class again.

Asusual, after the final lecture had ended, Kasumi made her way to practice once again. At practice, she was feeling more confident than before and she was also performing a lot better. Her Coach couldn’t help but smile at her being on the top of her performance once again.

“I see you’re performing a lot better this time.” Coach said.

“Yes! I’ve been talking to Ren and I felt more confident after I asked him for his help.” Kasumi said, with a smile.

“You sure you don’t have a crush on him?” Her Coach said, teasingly.

“...Coach.”

“I’m kidding. Well, you’re done for today. We won’t have practice tomorrow, but make sure you still practice by yourself as well.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Kasumi went to change back to her usual attire once again, thinking about her senpai. She was really eager to talk to him, but she didn’t know what to talk to him about. “I’ll figure it out after dinner.” She thought to herself. Making her way home.

After dinner, Kasumi had settled down in her room and looked at her contact list. She noticed how empty it looks like, only having her parents and Ren added on it. She figured she’d message Ren something, but she didn’t know where to start again.

“Um...oh! How about...”

Kasumi:

_Senpai, do you have time to exercise with me tomorrow?_

Ren:

_If I have the time for it, I’ll come by._

Kasumi:

_Great! Thanks a lot once again, senpai! It means a lot to me!_

Ren:

_No problem. I’ll see you later._

Kasumi:

_Later!_

She closed her phone. It was about her bedtime anyway. But the thought of talking to him was making her happy. At this rate she might not be able to contain her excitement about it. She felt like she needed to let her parents know, at the very least. With those thoughts in bed, she quickly fell asleep.

* * *

**4/16**

After the lecture has ended and lunchtime has come, Kasumi opened up her phone and decided to message Ren.

Kasumi:

_Senpai, do you want to eat together? You need a good meal to be ready for a practice._

Ren:

_Sure, let’s quickly eat so you can show me your moves. Meet up with me at the cafeteria._

Kasumi:

_I’m on my way._

They had met up and decided to quickly eat their food. They still had a bit of time left, so Kasumi decided to take him to a place at school where there was open space.

“I forgot to tell you, but gymnastic moves can be really tiring for those who’re only starting at it. If you start to feel really tired, please let me know!”

“Got it.”

With that, Kasumi showed him a few moves as much as their time limit had allowed. Despite it lasting only about 4 minutes, he felt like those 4 minutes were actually 4 hours of practicing without any breaks.

“Um...are you alright, senpai?”

“Yeah, I feel...great, actually.”

In actuality, Ren was screaming internally on how painful this was.

“I’m surprised. That was very impressive, senpai!”

She felt like she was hearing a cat meow, but she couldn’t quite tell where the cat meowing was coming from.

“Um...is it just me, or do you hear a cat as well, senpai?”

“Oh, well I have a cat with me.”

The cat was out of the bag, literally.

“Oh! He looks cute! Can I pet him?”

Ren looked at Morgana, and Morgana gave a nod.

“He...understands you!? He seems really smart!”

“Something like that.” He couldn’t obviously tell her that the cat was actually able to speak.

Kasumi decided to pet Morgana by the chin, not too long after, he was really enjoying how Kasumi was petting him.

“Don’t worry senpai, I won’t tell anyone about this.”

“I’m glad.” He said with a grin.

“I think classes will start again soon, we should head back. Thank you for today, senpai.”

“No problem.” He said, internally thinking how rough even the ‘basic’ exercise was for him, but it did felt like he got stronger off it.

After school had ended that day, Kasumi made her way back home. She was still really happy about how she got time to spend with her senpai at school, and her happiness could be easily noticed. Her father noticed this during dinner and decided to go ask her.

“Kasumi, you look really happy. Did something happen?”

“Oh! I’ve made a new friend at school that I really get along well with.”

“Really? Who is he?”

“He’s a second year. His name is Ren. He was quite helpful for me, my practice was going bad but because of him, I managed to pick it back up!” Kasumi said, with a grin.

“He sounds like a good person.” Shinichi said.

“Is he cute at least?” Her mom said with a smile.

“Mom! Not you too!” Kasumi wasn’t expecting her mom to tease her about this as well.

Her mother just laughed at her while Kasumi was pouting and Shinichi just sighed. The dinner was promising to be lively at least.

Kasumi had made her back to her room once again. She remembered she had homework to do, so she decided to get that out of the way today so she can have more time later. It wasn’t anything hard at least, which she was thankful for. After doing her homework, she decided to go to sleep to be ready for tomorrow.

* * *

**4/17**

Kasumi had the day off from school, but not from her practices. Today she had a lot more practice to do. The practice itself today was a lot more brutal compared to the previous ones, but thinking about her senpai gave her confidence that helped her through the exercise. She managed to surprise herself, because she wasn’t able to get that far before.

Although she impressed herself, she knew very well that she could still push herself further to her limit. As long as Ren was there to lend an ear to her when she needed it, she felt like there’d be nothing that could stop her from reaching the top of the world.

“You managed to get through without too much trouble. Are you feeling alright, Kasumi?”

“..Yes, ma’am. Just a bit tired.” She said panting slightly, but in reality she was quite tired. Thankfully though, she was a gymnast, so she would be able to recover from that by the time evening comes.

“I’m impressed. You’ve been improving a lot. I’m almost willing to give you a break for your hard work.” She said, with a smile.

“I’m afraid I’d have to decline, Coach. I want to keep practicing to be at the top of my shape.”

“I can see that, but remember, practicing isn’t the only way you can keep at the top of your shape.”

“Yes, ma’am. I understand.”

“Good. On that note...take the day off tomorrow. You’ve done more than enough today. We’ll continue later.”

“Yes, ma’am. I understand.”

With that, Kasumi had made her way back home after changing to her usual attire, she felt a little bit of pain in her muscles because of the brutal exercise, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. After changing to her usual attire, she had made her way to home and decided to message Ren after eating dinner.

Kasumi:

_Senpai, I have the day off tomorrow. Are you available to exercise with me tomorrow?_

Ren:

_I’m afraid I won’t have too much time for the upcoming days. I’ll let you know when I’m available though, if that’s fine._

Kasumi:

_Ah. Please do so! Can we at least keep in touch like this if we can’t meet up in person?_

Ren:

_Sure. Let’s meet up tomorrow for lunch, but I can’t come to practice._

Kasumi:

_I understand. Thanks for your time, senpai._

Ren:

_No problem. See you tomorrow._

Kasumi:

_See you!_

With that, Kasumi closed her phone and fell asleep rather quickly, she was still a bit tired from her practice today.

* * *

**4/18**

Kasumi had been called to the guidance office that day in the early morning. She didn’t really understand why, but she went there. She was greeted by Kamoshida and one other teacher.

“Yoshizawa, are you aware of why we called you here today?” Kamoshida started.

“Um...not really. Is it about my gymnastics?”

“Yes, and there was one other matter we decided to talk to you about.”

Kasumi nodded and decided to listen to what Kamoshida had to say to her.

“I hope you’ve been practicing to keep at the top of your shape. Because the school might need your talents as well to improve their standing. You might’ve been told of this before, but we want you to focus on your gymnastics first rather than your lessons. Otherwise...there might be some consequences if you start doing bad. Is that clear?”

“...Yes, Mr. Kamoshida.”

“Good. Now one other thing I wanted to talk to you about is that there’re students you should stay away from. There was a recent delinquent transfer student that you might’ve heard about, and he committed crimes like assaulting someone, rape and murder, but it’s not limited to those things.”

Kasumi’s eyes had widened. Why would they have admitted someone like that to the school? Her mind kind of went blank. What was this all about?

“Well, that was all I wanted to say for now. There’ll be others that will also want to talk to you, so let’s get over there to the gym.”

“...I understand.” Kasumi made her way out with the teachers, on her way out, she saw Ren. She was at least happy to see him.

“Senpai!” She said, waving at him, Ren returned the gesture.

“Oh, you know this guy, Yoshizawa?” Kamoshida said.

“Yes, I’ve been talking to him for a while.”

“I recommend you steer clear of the likes of him if you’ve any consideration for your future. Remember the discussion we had? They're a number of students in this school you shouldn’t get involved with... This one’s at the top of the list.”

...Kasumi’s mind went blank for a moment. What? Her Senpai did those things Kamoshida had mentioned? She didn’t know what to think, but then...

No. Her senpai wasn’t anything like that from what she saw. She remembered how people were gossiping about her too, and it was bothering her. How is this any different? She decided to put those rumors aside.

“...I... see.” She only said that.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I need to use the guidance office.” Kawakami said.

“Oh, pardon me. We should be going too—don’t want to get in the way of guiding this delinquent and all.”

Kasumi only nodded. But she wanted to scream at how wrong Kamoshida was, but she didn’t want to get in trouble for that.

“...Senpai, I’ll talk to you later.” She said, with a smile and decided to leave. Ren didn’t know what she was thinking about, but her gesture seemed to imply that she didn’t believe in any of those rumors.

Why would she anyway? He was a friend to her, she wasn’t going to let those...rumors ruin that for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Doq for beta reading and to Dev0ted for his support!  
> Doq's work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919799  
> Dev0ted's work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24510076/chapters/59167783


	4. A New Calling

**4/18**

Kasumi had made her way to the gym with Kamoshida and the other teachers. There were about 4 more of them. They all were looking at her with big smiles. Kasumi wasn’t sure what was the point of all of this, she couldn’t make any sense out of it.

“You must be Kasumi Yoshizawa, correct?” One of them spoke up.

“Yes, that’d be me.” Kasumi said.

“Do you know why we called you here?”

“I’m guessing something about my gymnastics, but I’ve already been told to make sure I focus on it.”

“Yes, there is that. But we’d like to make sure that you can focus on your gymnastics without any real distractions. About a week ago, your sister had passed away in an accident. Does that not make you feel distracted?”

“Um..sorry, I don’t know what you are talking about. I feel just fine, I can fully focus on my gymnastics.”

The teachers looked at each other in a confused manner. What did she mean that she didn’t know what they were talking about?

“Yoshizawa-san, are you sure you can focus on your gymnastics without anything affecting you? If there is something, you can tell us and we can see to it that it can be taken care of, assuming it is within our power.

Kasumi was starting to get bored of all of those questions. What were they even talking about at this point? But she had to keep her calm. At least, for now.

“No, really. There is nothing that is distracting me at all. I can fully commit myself to gymnastics.”

“...Very well.”

“Oh by the way, Yoshizawa was involved with the delinquent student from what I’ve heard.” Kamoshida said.

Kasumi was starting to think that for whatever reason, Kamoshida had a bone to pick with Ren and it was not a pretty one.

“I’m sure Mr. Kamoshida told you this, but do stay away from that transfer student. He could get you into serious trouble, and make you lose your focus overall by affecting you in other ways.” One of the teachers spoke up again.

“...I understand.” Kasumi said.

As if she was going to listen to them. She rarely talked to people, but when she talked to Ren, she didn’t feel like he was a bad person at all. Some of those rumors felt overexaggerated anyway. But why were there rumors like that about him in the first place? She felt like she had to know what was that all about.

“That’d conclude this meeting. Yoshizawa-san, please hurry to your class.” One of the teachers said.

“Yes, sir!” Kasumi bowed quickly and made her way to the class again.

Kasumi felt like time wasn’t passing in the class at all. The lecture was about social studies. She was really bored out of her mind waiting for the lunch time to come. She wasn’t sure if she was going to have a lot more time after school, it didn’t seem like her Coach was going to let her take a break just yet. But it was all for her to reach the top of the world, so she couldn’t complain.

She felt sleepy again, trying to keep awake, the lesson itself wasn’t all that interesting to her. In her sleepy like state, she wasn’t even her teacher was talking to her, until he yelled at her.

“Hey, Yoshizawa!”

She snapped awake fully from the sudden yelling, and looked towards her teacher.

“You! Pay attention! Is that how you listen when someone’s talking to you!?”

...She felt murderous intent.

She saw that he was readying his chalk. She quickly understood what he was planning to do, so she prepared herself.

Just as she predicted it, her teacher threw the chalk at her with pinpoint accuracy heading towards her forehead. But unfortunately for the teacher...

She was a gymnast. It wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She managed to dodge to the side quickly and went back to look like she was paying attention.

All the eyes were now on her though.

“Wow, did you see that dodge!?”

“That was insane...being a gymnast must be really beneficial for you!”

For once, all the people around her were talking about her positively. But she figured that might not last for that long.

Eventually, lunchtime had finally hit. She pulled out her phone and messaged Ren.

Kasumi:

_Senpai, let’s talk at the cafeteria if you don’t mind. I have some things to ask you._

Ren:

_Sure, let’s meet up there._

Kasumi:

_I’m on my way._

She had made her way to the cafeteria, already grabbing her food and waiting on her senpai. He finally came, she waved at him and he went to sit down next to Kasumi.

“So, I imagine you wanted to ask me about this morning, right?”

“...Yes, it was about today.” Kasumi looked somewhat troubled.

“Do you believe in those rumors?” Ren asked, directly.

“No! I don’t believe them. I really don’t think you are the type to do any of those things. Some of those rumors felt exaggerated anyway. I mean...elephant tusk trafficking? How would you be able to do that...?”

Ren smirked. “Beats me. But one of those rumors is true though.”

“...What?” Kasumi’s eyes widened, she wasn’t expecting that response.

“I did assault someone.”

Kasumi wasn’t sure how to answer, she just looked down with a sad expression. Why would he assault someone like that?

“However, the thing is, the man I ‘assaulted’ was forcing himself onto a woman. So I pushed him away and he fell to the ground.”

“What? Then how come you’re considered as...”

“She testified against me saying I assaulted the man out of nowhere, because she was forced to. So that’s how I got a criminal record.”

Kasumi was in shock; she wasn’t expecting any of that at all.

“I...see.”

“Enough about me though. How about you, Ms. Yoshizawa?” He said, with a smirk.

“Ms...Yoshizawa? Um..I don’t have much going on...”

“Really? I feel like there’s some mysterious air around you.”

“...What do you mean?” 

“Like there is more to you than you’re letting on.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint you senpai, but I have nothing to hide.” She said, with a giggle.

“Really? Do you like me that much already?” Ren said, teasing her.

“...W-What? No, I just don’t have anything to hide, I-I don’t know what you’re implying!” She said, her face going a bit red and Ren just laughing at her. Kasumi wasn’t going to let him get away with his teasing. Maybe not today, but later she’d get her revenge.

She decided to eat her food and so did Ren until their time was almost up.

“Hey Kasumi, do you happen to have free time after school?”

“Rarely...Coach can sometimes let me have free time but maybe she’ll give me a longer period of break if I keep up my routine.”

“Is she strict?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised, senpai.” She said, with a grin.

“Well, it seems like our time is almost about up, so we should hurry back to our classes, senpai.”

Ren nodded, and both parted their ways to their classes. Unknown to her however, Ren was already planning a heist.

After that previous event where her teacher tried to throw a chalk at her forehead, Kasumi decided to pay attention to the class and even force herself in the event she may start getting sleepy due to how boring it can get. She might be able to dodge chalks but it would be hard to dodge questions the teacher may ask if they catch her while she’s not paying attention to the class, since the teachers love to do that.

School was finally over and Kasumi decided to go practice again as usual. It was the same thing as usual with Kasumi performing over the top. After the practice Kasumi went back to her home for dinner. She went back to her room after dinner and decided to text Ren.

Kasumi:

_Senpai, I apologize for not keeping my end of the deal. If you want, I can show you more gymnastics moves tomorrow._

Ren:

_I appreciate the thought but not for now. I’ll let you know when I want to take your lessons, is that fine?_

Kasumi:

_Oh, that’s fine senpai. Let me know if you have the time for it!_

Ren:

_You seem like you really want to show me. Growing attached already?_

Kasumi:

_Nope, but I bet you’d want me to!_

Ren didn’t respond after that. Kasumi was laughing to herself because she probably made him get embarrassed. For some reason, she felt like they were just going to go tease each other like this, and she was definitely not planning to lose it. But on a second thought...

Maybe that’s what Ren wants to do? He did seem a bit mysterious in that regard.

Kasumi went to sleep after her eyes were starting to feel heavy with those thoughts filling her head.

_Take Your Time_

* * *

**4/23**

Those past few days, nothing interesting was really happening. Kasumi was having fun while talking to Ren over lunch, but she felt like their relationship was stuck because they didn’t have more time to be together. She was considering asking her Coach some breaks for her performance but she figured her Coach probably wouldn’t allow her. But maybe if she did crocodile tears, she would.

When Kasumi arrived at the school, she noticed there was some sort of commotion going around with calling cards all around. She decided to snatch one from a wall and read it.

**_Sir Suguru Kamoshida, the utter bastard of lust._ **

**_We know how shitty you are, and that you put your twisted desires on students that can’t fight back. That’s why we have decided to steal away those desires and make you confess your sins._ **

**_This will be done tomorrow, so we hope you will be ready._ **

**_From, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts._ **

Kasumi didn’t know what to make out of this. On one hand, he didn’t seem like the type, but she thought looks can be deceiving as well. She looked around and saw Ren with others. She decided to walk towards them.

“Senpai! Do you know what this could be about?”

“I don’t know, it could be related to some students we saw with scars who were taking lessons from Kamoshida.”

“Oh hey, you know Ren?” Ann spoke up.

“Yup! I met with him on the first day of school, he’s been really nice.”

“Nice to meet you...um..what’s your name?” Ryuji asked.

“I’m Kasumi. Kasumi Yoshizawa.”

“I’m Ryuji, I’ve been friends with this guy ever since we met!”

“I’m Ann. Ren also helped me out when I was feeling down. He’s really something.”

“Senpai, you really are nothing like the rumors.” Kasumi said, with a smile.

Ren was planning to make a snarky comment, but just at that moment, Kamoshida had appeared and decided to read one of the calling cards. He immediately got agitated.

“Who’s responsible for this...!?”

Kamoshida looked around at someone to blame so that he could take their anger out on them.

“Did you do this!? Or was it you!?”

Everyone had quickly dispersed except the four of them. Kasumi was feeling intimidated which only worsened as Kamoshida was approaching them. If what the calling card said was even slightly true, she had to be on her guard.

“Was it you two!?” Kamoshida said, looking between Ryuji and Ren.

“What are you talking about?” Ren said, being oblivious.

“So, you’re playing dumb...? Tch, it’s no matter.”

He saw that Kasumi was with them as he looked at her. Kasumi felt her heart racing a little bit as Kamoshida approached her.

“Yoshizawa, you shouldn’t be with those delinquents.”

“They are my friends—“

Just as Kasumi was finishing her sentence, Kasumi’s arm was grabbed suddenly by Kamoshida. She was too intimidated to be even able to react. But how could she even have reacted from this distance too?

“Let..go...” Kasumi said, pleadingly.

She tried to break free of his grip, but she didn’t have the physical strength to break free from a male adult’s grip. As Kamoshida decided to drag her out, Kasumi felt another arm grab her, and this time it was Ren’s, preventing Kamoshida from dragging her.

“ _You’re not taking her anywhere.”_ Ren said, with an intimidating voice.

Kamoshida winced at the tone of his voice. He just said a “Tch!” and let go of Kasumi’s arm. Kasumi quickly hid behind Ren from being intimidated like that.

“It’s no matter, you’ll be expelled for hanging out with a delinquent despite our warnings.” Kamoshida said, and he left the scene.

...Kasumi’s eyes widened. What the heck did he mean by that? Expelled? For hanging out with a student who did nothing wrong?

She had a sad expression on her face with the others looking pissed for getting someone else involved in this. She wasn’t saying anything. She just looked sad. What the heck was she supposed to say to her parents?

“Kasumi.” Ren said, making Kasumi look at him.

“You have nothing to worry about. Don’t tell anyone about this either, alright?”

“H-Huh? What do you mean...?”

“Just trust me.” Ren said.

“Yeah, you can trust him, Yoshizawa. That bastard will get what he deserves!” Ryuji said.

“We’re here for you, Yoshizawa. Do you want to get something to drink to relax?” Ann said.

“...That’d be great, thanks...” Kasumi said, she felt like she lost 10 years of her lifespan from that event.

* * *

They had gone outside to grab a drink for Kasumi and for themselves. They decided to sit outside as they were making sure Kasumi was alright.

She seemed a bit more calmer, but she was still entirely tense. He said she’d get expelled. What was she supposed to do against that, hope that those..phantom thieves would actually do something?

But at the same time, Ren told her to trust him. She felt like she had no other choice.

“Kasumi, are you feeling better?” Ann started.

“Yeah, kind of...but what he was going to do...” She stopped.

“Well, don’t you worry. He won’t be able to touch you anymore. Just avoid him as much as you can from now on, and everything will be fine!” Ann said.

“I hope you’re right...I really can’t afford to get expelled now, I’d never hear the end of it from my dad...” Kasumi said.

“Don’t worry, just trust us!” Ryuji said.

Ren just looked at her with a confident smile.

Kasumi let out a sigh, but it was rather a relaxed type of sigh.

“...Okay, I’ll trust you. Come to think of it, are you two a second year as well?”

Both nodded.

“Oh, so you two are my senpais as well. Nice to have met you, Ann-senpai and Ryuji-senpai.” She got up and bowed out of respect.

“No need to be so formal with us, y’know!” Ann said, with a smile.

Kasumi nodded.

“I understand, senpa- uhm, Ann.”

They all let out a small chuckle. The mood was lively again. It was as if they forgot what had happened a few moments ago.

“Oh, um...since we’re all in this together, can we exchange contact info?” Kasumi said.

Ryuji and Ann nodded in agreement. They exchanged their contact info by holding their phones near each other just like that.

“I think we should make our way to our classes now. I’ll be careful to not run into Kamoshida. I still have a bit of fear of getting expelled, but I trust all of you. Oh and by the way...”

Kasumi stopped for a moment. There’s no way _they_ would be those phantom thieves, right? But even if they were, she had no reason to rat them out.

“Are you those phantom thieves the calling card said?”

They all looked at each other. Ren was the one that decided to speak up.

“No, we’re not. To be honest, I still have my doubts about that calling card, but trust us instead of them, because they might not even actually exist.” Ren said.

“...Okay, I understand, senpai. We all should get going now, I hope we can talk later.” She said with a smile, and made her way to the class, like the others.

Once school was over, Kasumi had made her way to the practice once again, if she was not encouraged she would have been performing badly right now, but thanks to the other’s kind words and support, she was just as fine at practice. She had made her way home after practice for dinner.

After eating dinner and going back to her room, Kasumi remembered something important.

She forgot to thank Ren for protecting her.

She opened her phone quickly and found Ren in her contact list and decided to message him.

Kasumi:

_Senpai, I forgot to thank you for protecting me today. If it hadn’t been for you..._

Ren:

_It’s alright, don’t worry about it. How are you holding up?_

Kasumi:

_I’m holding out well. I’m still a bit scared, though._

Ren:

_Just hang in there, Kasumi. You’re strong, you can do it._

Kasumi:

_Thanks, senpai. That means a lot._

Ren:

_Well, I believe you should be sleeping right now, Miss Yoshizawa._

Kasumi kind of blushed, she was thankful he couldn’t actually see her blushing right now.

Kasumi:

_The same goes to you, Mr. Amamiya._

After that, she had closed her phone and decided to sleep. Hoping that whatever happens, everything will turn out just fine..

* * *

**4/24**

Practice was extra brutal today since she had the day off school. She was keeping up rather well all things considered, and it looked like she could keep going at it for hours. Her Coach was impressed with her performance once again.

“Alright Kasumi, it seems like you’ve been doing a great job at keeping your form up. Take the week off, but remember to still practice yourself so that you don’t lose your form. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am! Thank you so much!”

“No need to thank me. You deserve a break. Go on, head to home now, it’s already getting a bit late.”

Kasumi nodded and made her way to home once again. After dinner though, she went to sleep early this time without even messaging Ren. She felt a bit too tired after today’s practice. 

* * *

**4/25**

Kasumi had made her way to the school again, waiting for her lecture to start once again. She decided to eagerly wait for the lunch time to finally come so that she could see Ren. It felt like time wasn’t passing even before the lecture itself had started. But there was nothing she could do about it either. Finally, her teacher arrived at the class and the lecture started.

Once lunchtime had finally hit, Kasumi decided to message Ren again.

Kasumi:

_Senpai, do you want to meet up in the cafeteria again?_

Ren:

_Not this time, sorry. I’m with Ryuji, let’s talk later, alright?_

Kasumi:

_Sure, I don’t mind. Talk to you later!_

With that, Kasumi decided to eat lunch alone, but it was alright, even if she didn’t quite get to talk to Ren directly.

After school ended, she decided to message Ren again.

Kasumi:

_Senpai, I have free time for about a week. Do you want to practice with me?_

Ren:

_Sure, where should we meet?_

Kasumi:

_Meet me at the place we last trained in._

With that, Kasumi made her way to the place they trained in before. She was happy to see Ren show up.

“I’m so glad you showed up this time, Senpai!”

“Heh, don’t mention it. How are you holding up?”

“I’m holding out fine. I’m just glad we have a lot more time to talk to now. Even if it’s only temporary.”

“So are you going to show me your moves?”

“Yup, I will. I just wanted to thank you again for being there for me, senpai. You might be a bit annoying sometimes with your teasing, but you’re definitely a good person in my book!” She said, with a confident smile.

“I’m not sure if I should feel great because you said I’m a good person or feel sad because you said I can be a bit annoying with my teasing.” He said, with a smirk.

“Well, I guess you _should_ feel sad because you _can_ be annoying.” She said, with a grin.

“Ow, your words Miss Yoshizawa, they wound me.”

They both laughed.

“How’s your practice been going?”

“It’s been going great! I feel a lot better after I finally got a break.”

“Were you thinking about me while you were performing your practices?”

“...W-Where did that come from?” Kasumi’s face went a bit red.

“Just out of curiosity.” Ren said, with a grin.

“Well... you’re cute and all senpai, but you might want to slow down if you want to win my heart.” She said, with a smug face.

Ren’s face had gone red as well. Ren heard Morgana telling him that she’s too good, and he needed to step up his game if he wishes to compete in regards to who can tease each other better.

She just laughed at his reaction and decided to be a bit more serious.

“Okay, okay...Let’s get started, senpai.”

He nodded, and Kasumi started showing him her moves. For Kasumi, they were just ‘basic’ moves. For any other person, they were rather really tiring and hard to do and Ren wasn’t quite used to this type of training. He was getting really tired but he didn’t show it, by the end of the training he felt like he got a lot stronger.

“Are you alright, Senpai?”

“Yeah, I’m fine...” He said, with an exhausted face.

“Don’t push yourself too hard. It might be hurting now but if you keep practicing with me, the pain should start going away.”

Ren just nodded.

“It’s getting a bit late, let’s meet up again later, senpai.”

“Oh by the way, I heard Kamoshida has called in sick from Ms. Kawakami. I figured you’d like to know since he also threatened you with being expelled.”

“Really? I wonder what happened...is this your doing?”

“Nah, I don’t know what happened myself either. Honest.”

Kasumi looked at him for a moment and decided that he was telling the truth. She was relaxed, maybe it’d all turn out well.

“Thank you for letting me know, senpai.”

Ren nodded. They both parted their ways and made their way to home. Kasumi remembered the fact that she had homework to do once again, but she thought to herself that if she just worked on it everytime after dinner, she’d be able to get it done. So she started working on her homework. Why were homeworks a thing anyway? It didn’t feel like she was getting anything of value from them.

After doing part of her homework, she went to sleep.

**4/26**

Nothing different had been happening so far, except for one thing. Kasumi was given a lot of homework, probably to prepare for her upcoming exams in a way. She figured she should ask Ren to maybe help her study if she has trouble, but so far the subjects haven’t been too hard, so she could handle it.

She figured she was asking to eat lunch with Ren too much for a while, so she decided to eat herself and partially do her homework at school, in order to actually have time to finish all of her homework.

When the classes have finally ended, she was leaving the school till she got messaged by Ren.

Ren:

_Kasumi, are you going to show me anything today?_

Kasumi:

_Well, I’d like to but I have a lot of homework to do so I’m not sure if I’d have the time._

Ren:

_What if I helped you with your homework? Not entirely do it for you obviously, but just lend a hand if you get stuck, I think I still kind of remember first grade lessons._

Kasumi:

_Really? Then that’d be great! Let’s meet up at our usual practice spot._

Ren:

 _I’m on my way._ _Mind if I bring Ryuji and Ann along too?_

Kasumi:

_Sure!_

Kasumi closed her phone and made her way to the spot they train in. She was eagerly waiting at the spot as she waited for them to show up. A few minutes later, they came, and she was really happy to see them.

“Yo! How’s it going?” Ryuji said.

“Heya Kasumi!” Ann said.

“Are you ready to torture us?” Ren said, with a grin.

“W-Wait. Torture!?” Ryuji said.

“Senpai! You know this exercise isn’t actually torturing!” Kasumi was pouting.

“Wait. How hard is this gymnastics exercise, Kasumi?” Ann said.

“It can be a little bit difficult for first timers, but if you keep doing it, you should not feel any fatigue after a while.”

Kasumi then had a sheepish smile on her face.

“Since you all are here however, I’m going to make Ren-senpai work even harder today, so that he can also show you the moves with me!”

Ren looked at her with a surprised face, he figured she didn’t actually need him to show the others and she only did this to mess with him. ‘She’s too good...’ he thought, but didn’t say anything or complained about it in the end.

“Right, so any other questions?”

No one else has said anything.

“Then, let us get started!”

Ren had joined her and together they started showing the moves to them. Kasumi and Ren only showed them what Ren had learned on his first day of practice. Ren and the others were already feeling tired.

They were all trying to catch their breath while Ren seemed a bit more energetic, but he was still tired just like the others.

“Are you alright, everyone?” Kasumi said, with a surprised face.

“Oww... it hurts, but...” Ann’s face turned into a determined one. “It’s like...a satisfactory type of pain.”

“Yeah...I know what you mean! But man, it hurts...” Ryuji said with a tired face.

“Take a breather, you earned it. Ren-senpai is still going to learn though!”

“Yes yes, Ms. Warden.”

Kasumi grinned at the nickname Ren gave her and she continued training with Ren while Ann and Ryuji were watching. Eventually, Ren also hit his limit like the others, but he managed to impress his friends particularly well.

“Yeah, that was really great! No wonder you’re our ‘leader’!”

“...Leader?” Kasumi said, with a surprised face.

“Oh, uh...he’s the leader for....uh....for our decision making!”

“...Okay then.” Kasumi definitely found this strange but she decided to make a mental note of it for later.

“Well, anyway... I’ve been practicing with Kasumi for a while.” Ren said.

“Senpai, you came a long way despite practicing for a short while, I’m so glad!”

Ann looked at the two for a moment and she thought how cute they would look together. It was like they were a perfect mix, but she decided not to say anything. She just smiled at them.

“Oh, it’s getting kinda late...” Kasumi said with a disappointed voice.

“Were you enjoying being a brutal warden?” Ren said with a grin.

“No..I was just...” Kasumi decided to give up and let him win that one, while Ann was thinking how cute they were and Ryuji decided to finally ask it.

“Are you two datin’ or something?”

Kasumi and Ren looked at each other. Both of them were slightly blushing but they both said no confidently.

“Oh, okay. I just thought-“

“Sorry, I really gotta go. Can I talk to you all later?” Kasumi said.

They all nodded, and she made her way to home after this event. After eating dinner with her family, she went to her room and decided to do her homework. So far, she didn’t really need Ren’s help, so she went at a smooth pace. After doing all she could that day, she went to sleep.

* * *

**4/27**

Kasumi was finally waiting for lunch time to hit. Since it finally came, she figured she’d ask Ann if she wants to eat lunch together for a change of pace. She decided to ask her on the phone.

Kasumi:

_Ann-senpai, would you like to eat luınch with me? I figured we should get to know each other better._

Ann:

_Sure! I’ll be there shortly!_

Kasumi and Ann got their food and decided to sit together where they could eat. Ann was shocked at how much food Kasumi had.

“You’re...going to eat all that...?” Ann said.

“Oh, this is just my usual. It might look too much, but I burn all of it while practicing!”

“Oh, I see...I guess you do train really hard.”

“I gotta watch out for my routine to stay in shape.”

“You must be training really hard, Kasumi. But why gymnastics?”

“Well, I always wanted to reach the top of the world, and gymnastics was something I’ve been interested in very early on, so my coach was training me over the course of the years.”

“That’s really impressive!”

They continued eating their lunch together, until Ann decided to ask Kasumi.

“So Kasumi, how long have you known Ren?”

“I accidentally bumped into him on the first day of the school, and then I saw him on the second day while on the train as well. So ever since then, I tried getting to know him better since we had small talk during those periods.”

“I see.”

“What about you?”

“Well, mine is kinda similar..he has helped me while I was feeling sad because of Kamoshida. But he seriously helped me through a lot!”

“He’s a really great person. It felt like the rumors about him were over exaggerated.”

“Yeah... it’s annoying when people make up rumors like that.” Ann paused for a moment.

“By the way, Kasumi...we’re girl to girl, what do you think of Ren?”

“Um...what do you mean?”

“Y’know, if he’s your type or not!”

“Uh...well..” Kasumi was thinking for a moment.

“I mean... he’s great, but... I’m not too interested in him at the moment.”

“Oh, so you mean to tell me you might get interested in him later?”

“N-No! That’s not what I...”

Kasumi blushed slightly while Ann was laughing at her. She realized what she said just now.

“Don’t worry, this is just between the two of us!”

“No, really... I’m not interested in him.”

“I see.”

Although with a reaction like that, anything’s possible. If not right now, she would probably be interested in him later. At least, that’s what Ann was thinking to herself.

“By the way, are you willing to show us more of your moves today?” Ann said.

“Sure, I can also show you today.”

“That’s fine! I’m glad you’re making us train, at least!”

“I’m happy to be of help!” Kasumi said, smiling.

With that, Kasumi and Ann finished their lunch and went back to their classes. After school had ended, Kasumi gathered everyone at their training spot and she started training with them. Everyone was feeling really tired once again, but they were all thankful for the practice, because they knew very well it’d help them a ton in the metaverse.

They parted their ways once again and Kasumi went back to her home, still continuing to do her homework. At least there wasn’t much more of it left, but there was still plenty to keep her busy. She finished her work today and decided to go to sleep, but her phone buzzed. When she checked, she was added to a new group chat between Ryuji, Ann and Ren. This wasn’t their Phantom Thieves one however.

Ryuji:

_We figured we should also add you to here, Yoshizawa. Since you were also involved with Kamoshida thinking about expelling you._

Kasumi:

_Yeah, about that. Did anything new happen?_

Ren:

_Besides Kamoshida calling in sick for important events, not much._

Ann:

_Does that mean we’re safe for now?_

Ann:

_I mean, it’s not like him to call in sick out of the blue like that._

Ryuji:

_Maybe. But that bastard said he’d get us all expelled at the board meeting._

Ann:

_Will this be alright?_

Ren:

_I’m sure it will be. Something definitely happened, we’ll just have to see._

Kasumi:

_I sure hope so. Anyway, I need to sleep to catch my energy. Good night everyone._

With that, Kasumi closed her phone and went to sleep once again

* * *

**4/28**

It hit Kasumi at school that she still had a lot of homework left to do due Saturday and she thought about how little time she had left. She didn’t have too many choices regarding this, either. If she didn’t spend time doing her homework at school as well, she would not have enough time to finish it.

She decided to go do her homework in the library as well since that was the only open place she could really work in. Unfortunately for her, people around her were distracting her when they noticed that it was Kasumi Yoshizawa who was working in the library.

“Woah, is that Kasumi Yoshizawa?”

“Yeah, she seems to be working even though she has the honor student status.”

“Maybe being an honor student isn’t that much different?”

She was at least still thankful she got work done for today, because it didn’t look like she’d had enough time to finish her homework otherwise. The homework wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle, but there was just too much. She remembered Ren offered to help her, but so far she didn’t need his help.

After it was getting late, she went home and ate dinner first. After that, she continued her homework, while being sad over the fact that she didn’t have too much time to practice by herself. When she was done with her work for today, she decided to check the next subject and looking at the homework, it seemed hard for her. So she decided to ask Ren for his help tomorrow.

* * *

**4/29**

School was the same as usual again. Kasumi eagerly waited for her lecture to end that day and then she immediately decided to ask Ren for his help.

Kasumi:

_Senpai, I believe it’s about time you also helped me with your own part of the deal!_

Ren:

_Helping you with your homework?_

Kasumi:

_Please, I really need your help._

Ren:

_Alright, alright. But only because you said please._

Kasumi:

_You never change, do you senpai?_

Ren:

_Nope. Where are we meeting?_

Kasumi:

_Library. And please make it quick._

Ren:

_I’m on my way._

Kasumi was already at the library doing her homework. Ren came over to the library and decided to sit next to her.

“So, what can I help you with?”

“This subject feels a bit too hard for me to understand. Can you please help..?”

Said subject was about science. She was good at things like Math, but when it came to science, she would always struggle to understand.

“I think I can help you with this, I’ll make sure to explain as best as I can so you can understand.”

“Thanks, senpai!”

If it hadn’t been for Ren right now, Kasumi would’ve probably never been able to finish her homework. It was due tomorrow, and she was thankful Ren assisted her.

“They aren’t going easy on the first years, huh?” Ren said.

“Yeah, I suppose this is to prepare us for the exam, but there was just too much...”

“Well, good thing I was here to save the day then.” Ren said, with a grin.

Kasumi just sighed a bit annoyingly at his snarky nature and just decided to leave him be. They had managed to finish a good portion of it and by then Kasumi started to understand the subject more better.

“Thanks, Senpai. I think I can finish it up today and finally get some rest.”

“No problem. You’re my friend after all.”

Kasumi smiled at him, and noticed how late it was.

“Oh, it’s getting late. I really should head home, I’ll talk to you later, senpai.”

“See you later!”

Kasumi went back home once again, still feeling tired after that much homework. After eating dinner, she focused fully on her homework and she managed to finish it fully. She was really relaxed after she finally managed to get over the crazy amount of homework. She was feeling mentally exhausted and almost fell asleep at her chair by accident. She decided to go to sleep.

* * *

**4/30**

Kasumi managed to deliver all of her homework today, and she was feeling proud of herself in a way. She really had to practice today, though. Tomorrow there was no school so she had to prepare herself to make up for those 2 days where she couldn’t practice. She figured she could also invite the others to join her. It might have been basic, but basics were really important, so it never hurts to do those.

After school had ended once again that day, she decided to message in the group chat.

Kasumi:

_Hey, everyone. Are you willing to practice today with me?_

Ann:

_Sure, I’m up for it!_

Ryuji:

_Hell yeah! I’m up for it too!_

Ren:

_You know me. I’m up for it as well._

Kasumi:

_Great! I’ll see you all at our usual training spot, then!_

They all met up once again. They were doing other moves that were still basic, but for others it was still really tiring. They all felt super tired and there was pain all over their bodies.

“Exercising normally alone can be tiring, but this is on a whole new level...” Ryuji said.

“Yeah, I don’t think I felt this much pain from just basic exercising before...” Ann said.

Ren seemed a lot more energetic compared to others, though.

“Senpai, it seems like you’re getting used to the basics!” Kasumi said, with a smile.

“I think so, but I still feel a lot of pain in my muscles.”

“I’m sure if you keep doing it for about a week, or maybe 2 at worst you won’t feel any pain after doing the exercise.”

“I’m beat. I’ll go home for today... thanks though, Kasumi.” Ryuji said.

“Me too... Thanks for the practice though, Kasumi! Let’s do it again later.”

“I’ll have to head home for now too.” Ren said.

“Make sure to rest well!” Kasumi said to everyone. They all nodded at each other and separated their own ways to make their way towards their homes.

Kasumi was glad she managed to get some practice in, because tomorrow she would have to be practicing all day, so it was a good way to keep herself ready for tomorrow. After eating dinner with her family, she went back to her room. She fell asleep a bit earlier this time so that she can be more energetic for tomorrow.

* * *

**5/1**

It was once again brutal today. But it wasn’t anything Kasumi couldn’t handle. She had lots of energy for the practice and in a way, gymnastics was her own way of venting out her energy, because it was always fun to do for her.

Her Coach was once again impressed by her performance. She wished that Sumire could see her sister like this as well. She thought about how Kasumi would always see Sumire as her rival.

Sumire unfortunately didn't know this very fact. Had she known, maybe she wouldn’t have taken her own life.

Coach decided to put those thoughts aside for now and she decided to talk with Kasumi after her practice was over.“Do you have any exams coming up?

“Yes, in about a week I’ll have to deal with exams.”

“In that case, do you mind if you practice for a few more days before you go study on your exams?”

“Sure thing, Coach! I’ve been studying myself anyway, so I think I can handle it.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear that. You’re free to go today.”

“Thanks, Coach!”

Kasumi went to change back to her usual attire. She remembered something she had forgotten about.

Tomorrow would’ve been the day to see if she gets expelled or not.

The thought kinda scared her but she remembered what she was told regarding Kamoshida. She decided to speak to others about tomorrow once she gets home. So she decided to make her way home after changing back to her usual attire.

After Kasumi ate dinner and went back to her room, she opened her phone and decided to message in the group chat.

Kasumi:

_So tomorrow is the day..._

Ren:

_Are you worried?_

Kasumi:

_I kind of am. I don’t know if it all will be okay. I just hope it will turn out well._

Ann:

_Yeah, it kind of is worrying..._

Ryuji:

_Hey, now’s not the time to worry about that. I’m sure it all will turn out well._

Kasumi:

_How can you be so sure?_

Ryuji:

_Well, call it a gut feeling. But don’t worry, you won’t get expelled! I bet on it!_

Ryuji:

_Well unless you do get expelled, but we’re all together in this._

Kasumi:

_Thanks, Ryuji-senpai. That gives me some confidence about tomorrow._

Ren:

_That’s the spirit._

Ann:

_Yeah, thanks Ryuji. You can be smart for once it seems._

Ryuji:

_What is that supposed to mean!?_

Kasumi just giggled at the interaction between those two.

Kasumi:

_Well, no use in thinking about it now. Let’s all head to bed. We’ll see tomorrow. Good night, everyone._

Kasumi closed her phone and decided to go to sleep. She still had some fear of getting expelled as well, but there was nothing she could do about it for now. With those thoughts filling her head, her eyes started getting heavier and she eventually fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone has been following me so far with my chapter. I have some unfortunate news. This fanfic will have to go into hiatus for about 2 weeks due to me being forced to come onto a vacation. 2 weeks might not seem too long, but it's honestly a bit of a big deal to me, as I don't want to make people wait that long, so I hope everyone understands. (Might be even shorter than 2 weeks honestly)
> 
> With that out of the way, I'd like to thank Doq for beta reading And Dev0ted for his support!  
> Doq's work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919799  
> Dev0ted's new work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25192981/chapters/61057279


	5. A Bittersweet Journey

**5/2**

‘Today is the day...’ Kasumi thought to herself as she was making her way to school. She was scared of the worst happening but she decided to have faith in her friends, because they were all in this together.

The trip to the school from the train station felt like she was riding her way to certain death. Minutes felt like hours for Kasumi on the train, and she just wished it would all end.

She just wished that it would end in a good way.

With all of those thoughts overwhelming her, Kasumi snapped out of her thoughts as the train announced the station she was supposed to get off at. She was trying to prepare herself mentally for what could happen today, but she felt like not even that would be enough.

After finally arriving at the school, Kasumi took a deep breath and decided to go in. On her way inside, she was notified by a teacher to go to the gym for the morning assembly. She figured this was going to be about Suzui, but she was still scared regardless.

She figured her friends would’ve been here as well, so she decided to look for them in the gym. She managed to spot Ren alone, so she decided to call out for him.

“Hey, senpai...”

“Oh, Kasumi. How are you today?”

“...I’m scared of what might happen.” Kasumi’s eyes were wide. She almost looked like she was going to cry. Ren had made his hand into a fist; he was ashamed that she was in this as well.

“Kasumi, I’m sorry about all this. You got dragged into this when it was just us who were going to get expelled.”

“Senpai... no, it’s okay...I think...”

If there was one thing Kasumi wasn’t good at, it was lying to others. She doesn’t remember lying to others like this besides just some small jokes. Ren was just as anxious as her in this, but he was good at hiding it out from others.

Ryuji had arrived and found them as well.

“Hey. How are you guys holding up?”

“I’m fine, but Kasumi isn’t doing all too well...” Ren went.

“Hey hey, it’s going to be alright Kasumi, trust in us!” Ryuji said.

Kasumi paused for a moment, before giving a nod. “...Okay, Ryuji-senpai. It’s just a bit difficult when the fear is starting to feel a bit overwhelming for me, but I’m glad you two are here for me.” Kasumi said, with a slight smile.

She looked around, and saw Ann as well making her way to them.

“Ann-senpai, nice to see you too.” Kasumi said.

“Heya Kasumi. How are you guys holding up?”

“We’ll be fine, I think.” Ren said.

“Will  _ you _ be alright though, Ann?” Ryuji said. “I mean...you can probably guess what this morning assembly is all about, so...”

“...I think I’ll be alright.” Ann said, with a neutral expression.

Shortly after, the principal finally got on the stage and started his speech.

“Let’s begin this school-wide morning assembly. As you all know, a tragic event took place the other day. Thankfully, we have been informed that she pulled through, but it will take time until she recovers. Everyone here has a bright future ahead. I implore that you rethink the importance of life and—“

Principal’s speech got interrupted by the sudden noise of the door opening. Everyone turned to see who had entered. To Kasumi’s and other’s shock, it was none other than Kamoshida himself, standing right there.

“Mr. Kamoshida, what’s the—“

“I...have been reborn.” Kamoshida interrupted the principal. “That is why I will confess everything to you all...”

Kamoshida started making his way to the stage. Kasumi was surprised. Confess? She thought to herself if this was something regarding the calling card.

After standing on the stage for a bit, Kamoshida had started talking.

“I have repeatedly done things that were... unbecoming of a teacher.” Kamoshida paused for a moment, before continuing. “Verbally abusing students... physically abusing my team, and... sexually harassing female students. I am the reason why Shiho Suzui tried to kill herself!” After saying that, Kamoshida fell to his knees.

...Kasumi was trying to digest in all of what he had said right now. She was thankful that Ren was there to protect her from him at that time, she didn’t want to imagine what could’ve happened if he wasn’t there.

“I thought of this school as my own castle... there were even students that I sentenced to expulsion, simply because I didn’t like them... I will, of course, rescind those...” Kamoshida paused for a moment again. “I am truly sorry for putting innocent youths through such horrible acts... I am an arrogant, shallow... and shameful person. No, I’m worse than that...”

Kamoshida bowed down on the ground, before continuing again.

“I will take responsibility and kill myself for it...!”

“Mr. Kamoshida! Please get off the stage for now!” Principal said.

“Everyone, return to your classes!” A teacher said.

“I—“ Kamoshida went, before being interrupted by Ann herself.

“Don’t run you bastard! Shiho’s still alive even after all the things that made her want to die! You have no right to run from this!”

“Ann...” Kasumi said in a whisper-like voice. She was touched by her determination.

“You’re right... you’re absolutely right... I should be punished under the law and atone for my crimes...”

Kamoshida had paused for a moment before continuing again.

“I did horrible things to Takamaki-san, as well. In return for giving Suzui-san a position on the team... I tried to force her into having relations.”

Kasumi was disgusted by Kamoshida. To think a  _ teacher _ would turn out to be someone like this... she had no proper words to describe how she was truly feeling. People around her were disgusted as well.

“As of today, I will resign from my position as an instructor and turn myself in. Someone, please call the police!”

“...Wow.” Ryuji said, surprised that the change of heart actually worked.

“This morning’s assembly is over! Return to your classes immediately!”

People around started gossiping rather quickly however.

“Isn’t this what that calling card said...?”

“Does this mean the Phantom Thieves thing was for real!?”

“Was something done to Kamoshida!?”

“C’mon, there’s no way you could steal someone’s heart!”

“But why else would he start saying things like he’ll kill himself or turn himself in?”

“Maybe it’s because it almost got leaked? Don’t they go easier on you if you turn yourself in?”

“I wonder what happened?”

“Who knows? But man, Kamoshida turned out to be one sick bastard.

People continued gossiping on and on, with Kasumi and the others barely able to hear them due to how much whispering there was going around.

“Return to your classrooms at once!” The teacher said again, and people started getting dispersed. Kasumi and the others however, decided to stick around for a short moment.

Not too long after, the gym was mostly empty. Kasumi figured she can be slightly late to class and just apologize for it later, it’s not like she’d get into much trouble for it.

“His heart really did change...” Ann started.

“Seems like it.” Ryuji said.

“..So, the calling card thing was real after all..” Kasumi said.

“But, was this really for the best? I mean, things’re happening way too fast...” Ryuji said.

“I believe so. At least we won’t have to worry about getting expelled now.” Ren said.

“...Yeah, you’re right.” Ryuji said.

A group of 3 students in the gym approached them shortly after. One of them seemed to be part of those students that got physically abused by Kamoshida. Kasumi was disgusted even further at Kamoshida.

“Takamaki-sann, I’m sorry!” Mishima started.

“...Huh?” Ann said, with a surprised expression.

“We all knew... but we pretended we didn’t.”

“Takamaki-san, I had you all wrong... I’m sorry that I spread rumors about you!” One of the girls said.

“I didn’t know at all...Kamoshida was forcefully pushing himself on you... It must’ve been so hard for you...!” The other girl said.

“No, it’s OK. The same goes for me too...” Ann said. “Besides, that’s all in the past now.”

“Hey, you there! Return to class at once!” The teacher came, pointing at everyone in there.

“...Senpai, I’ll see you all later. I should really hurry up now.” Kasumi said. “Let’s meet up later!”

Kasumi was energetic once again and she left the gym as she waved at them. She was happy that her trust in them was not misplaced. She hurried back to class to hopefully survive for the rest of the day.

Take Your Time...

Kasumi didn’t have much time to meet up with others during lunch time, so she figured she’d talk to them later on the phone. She was preparing to leave the school when her phone suddenly rang.

Ren:

_ Hey, Kasumi. We’ll be meeting up at the school roof today. Why don’t you come join us? _

Kasumi:

_ Sure, I’d like to, senpai! I’m on my way! _

Kasumi closed her phone and decided to make her way to the school roof. When she got there, she already saw Ren and the others there waiting for her. Morgana decided to remain in Ren’s bag to look less suspicious.

“Hey, senpai!” Kasumi said with a confident smile.

“How are you doing?” Ren asked.

“Much better! I was so scared, but I’m glad he changed!”

“Yeah, we could use good news for a chance, y’know?” Ryuji said.

“Mhm! I’m glad that’s finally over!” Ann said.

“So..why did you call me up here?” Kasumi decided to ask

“Well, we decided that we’ll probably be celebrating the fact that we’re not going to get expelled by eating out somewhere. Would you like to join us?” Ren asked.

“Sure, but I might be busy for a few days. When were you guys thinking of doing it?”

“We thought about doing it on the last day of the holidays. Do you think you’ll be free at that time?” Ann said.

“Mhm! I should have time for it, if not I can ask for some time too. Practices take most of my time at the moment.”

“Yoshizawa-san, you practice even during holidays?” Ann asked with a surprised expression.

“Gymnastics requires me to stay in shape, so I have to keep practicing to stay in my form, really.”

“...Wow, that’s really admirable, Yoshizawa-san!” Ann said, with a smile.

“So, when do you plan to train us next, Ms. Warden?” Ren said with a smirk.

“Senpai...you’re so mean...” Kasumi said, not really expecting that remark.

“Well, I suppose it’d be when I have the time for it, senpai. I can try to make time for it if my schedule allows me.” Kasumi continued.

“Soo...if that’s all settled, let’s meet up at the 5th, and good luck with your practice Yoshizawa-san!” Ryuji said.

“Yeah, good luck!” Ann said.

“Do your best.” Ren casually said.

“I will! Oh and...I forgot to thank all of you for giving me faith that everything would’ve turned out alright.”

“It’s no problem. Remember, we were all in this together, so you can come to us if you have any trouble at school!” Ann said with a happy smile.

“I will! Thank you all once again!” Kasumi bowed down slightly towards them as a gesture of respect and she had finally left to make her way to her practice once again.

Practice went the same as usual, but Kasumi decided to ask her coach if she could give her free time.

“Hey, Coach... will we be practicing on the 5th too?”

“We will be. Something on your mind?”

“Well, it’s just...I was invited to something by my friends on that day and I figured I’d ask if you could give me free time for that day.”

“You made friends at school? That makes me happy to hear, Sumire was the only one that you were close to. Well, I’ll allow it but you’ll have to make up for it later.”

“Huh? Sorry Coach, I couldn’t hear you…”

Coach stared at Kasumi again, to which the poor girl just looked very intimidated at her.

“D-Did I say something wrong..?” Kasumi asked.

“...Nevermind. Just make sure to make up for it later.”

Kasumi didn’t say anything further, she just nodded.

After that, Kasumi left the practice after she changed back to her school attire and went back home, feeling exhausted mentally after all that had happened today. She was happy things turned out this way. But was changing someone’s heart the right thing to do?

She thought that maybe changing someone’s heart stops them from improving as a person, because a person shouldn’t have to rely on someone to improve as a person.

With those thoughts overwhelming her, she fell asleep quickly on her bed.

* * *

**5/4**

Practice went the same as usual once again, and Kasumi arrived home to eat dinner with their family. She figured she should bring up that she was going to go out with her friends tomorrow at the dinner.

“Dad, I’m going to go out with my friends tomorrow.”

“You made friends at school?” Shinichi asked, surprised.

“Mhm! They are really nice people too, and they invited me to hang out with them tomorrow.”

“Well, did you ask for permission from your Coach?”

“I did! I figured I should bring it up with you too.”

“I see...well, have fun Kasumi.” Shinichi said, with a smile.

“I’m so happy for you, Kasumi!” Her mom said.

Kasumi had a bit of a blush on her face, but she was really happy because her parent’s happiness brought her happiness as well.

When she finally left to her room, her phone rang and she opened it up to see it was from the group chat.

Ann:

_ Alright, I found a place where we all can eat at. _

Ryuji:

_ Which place is it? _

Ann:

_ It’s a surprise, you’ll see tomorrow. Let’s all meet up together in front of Shibuya Station at noon. _

Ren:

_ I want Ramen. _

Ann:

_ It’s going to be much better than that. _

Kasumi:

_ I hope it’s stacked on food then, I need to eat a lot. _

Ann:

_ Don’t worry, I’m sure there’ll be enough! _

Kasumi:

_ Great! Well, see you guys tomorrow! _

Kasumi turned off her phone and decided to go to sleep to rest up for tomorrow.

* * *

**5/5**

Kasumi was anxiously waiting for her friends in front of the Shibuya Station. There was still some time it was noon, but she wanted to make sure that she didn’t miss meeting up with them. It was rather a long and boring wait though, because she arrived about half an hour earlier.

She started thinking on how to pass the time while she was waiting for them to arrive. Maybe she could see if anyone was talking about the Phantom Thieves? She opened up her phone to read the news and, sure enough, there was a lot written.

The general consensus however, this Phantom Thieves thing was all just a prank.

‘How could it be a prank though? That makes no sense to me..’ Kasumi thought to herself.

‘And why did no one decide to speak up about this? Why did people just decide to ignore this?’ Kasumi thought to herself again. It was certainly strange, some seemed to be aware of what Kamoshida was doing, and she thought that surely the principal would have been aware of this too. So why was this all ignored by everyone?

‘...I guess I shouldn’t really trust the principal about this.’ Kasumi thought to herself again as she continued reading the articles. Before she knew it, half an hour had passed and her friends finally had arrived at the station.

“Yo, Kasumi!” Ryuji said, waving at her as well as the others.

Kasumi was so focused on her phone she didn’t quite hear Ryuji however.

“Kasumi?” Ryuji decided to wave in front of her.

“H-Huh?” Kasumi looked up and saw that everyone had arrived.

“Oh, senpai! I was just reading up things on my phone while I was waiting.”

“...How long were you waiting for?” Ren asked.

“Uh..about half an hour, I think. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss it, so I’ve decided to arrive early.”

“We coulda just waited in case you were late too, y’know!” Ann said.

Kasumi just slightly blushed while everyone else laughed at her reaction. But they all knew Kasumi was a great friend to have.

“Well, as your punishment, next time I’ll be sure to not go easy on all of you while we are practicing!”

Everyone’s eyes widened at that moment. They all knew how hard Kasumi could go on them.

“Just kidding!.... but not really.”

They all noticed that a train was arriving at the station and shortly after, they all got on the train to make their way towards the place Ann is supposed to take them to.

* * *

They had arrived at the buffet place Ann had brought them in. Ann already had made their reservation before they had arrived, so they decided to grab food while Kasumi grabbed a lot more, surprising everyone once again. They made their way to their table and started eating.

“So good...!” Ryuji said.

Morgana had meowed which Kasumi couldn’t quite understand him.

“It’s really good! I could eat every food here!” Kasumi said. 

“Of course it’s good. This is a famous hotel, after all.” Ann said.

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard that the police are coming to interview some people at school.” Ann said.

“Our names are going to come up for sure. People’re spreadin’ all sorts of rumors about us and Kamoshida...” Ryuji said.

“But never mind that, some people got too excited they even made a friggin website about Phantom Thieves!” Ryuji said, showing them the site on his phone.

“The Phantom Aficionado Website?” Ann paused for a moment. “’Well done, Phantom Thieves...’ ‘Now I can keep going too...’ ‘Thank you for giving us hope...’”

“Pretty cool, huh?”

“I don’t know if it was the Phantom Thieves or if they are even actually real, but I’m glad the worst hasn’t happened.” Kasumi said.

“Yeah, I’m really happy it turned out this way.” Ann said.

“I’m just still annoyed that Kasumi got involved in this too.” Ren said.

“Senpai...it’s alright now, the important thing is we all didn’t get expelled in the end.” Kasumi said with a confident smile.

Ren looked at her and nodded. He was still feeling a bit guilty however.

“Hey, so...what are we going to do now?” Ryuji asked.

“Are we good on time?” Ren asked.

Ann suddenly got up with a sudden realization. “This place has a time limit!”

“Oh crap, we only got an hour to eat!” Ryuji said.

They both were panicking while Kasumi was just grinning at them. She already packed quite a lot on her plate so she had a lot of variety to eat.

Both Ann and Ryuji had left to grab some more food for what they wanted to eat, but it was rather messy and Morgana even commented on this, prompting Ren to get food as well, but properly unlike those two.

“I’ll be going to grab some food too, I’ll be back quickly.” Ren said. However, everyone was already focused on their food, including Kasumi who was powering through it easily. Not too long after, Ren came back with even more food on the table, to which Kasumi was slightly surprised.

“...Ooh, you brought back a lot of food!” Ryuji said.

“I just want to eat, really.”

“Senpai, just make sure you burn what you eat or you might not be able to have a good time on the practice!” Kasumi said, with a smile.

“Yeah, as if I ever had a good time in practices with you...” Ren said, under his breath.

“Huh? Did you say something?” Kasumi asked.

“Nah, it was nothing. Anyway, I may need help with eating all of this.”

Kasumi had finished her food by then, but she was still feeling hungry.

“Well, I can help you out with that, senpai! I’m still feeling hungry.”

Everyone in the group was mildly surprised, but this wasn’t anything new, Kasumi did surprise them a lot before. Ren couldn’t even finish the food with Morgana’s help anyway, but thanks to Kasumi, it was a breeze. Well, it was a breeze for Kasumi anyway. Not too long after, everyone managed to finish their food, but they all ate a lot more than any normal human should normally eat.

“That was delicious!” Kasumi said with a smile, however she noticed everyone else felt like they were ready to run to the bathroom.

“Oh, you guys ate a lot more than you normally do, huh..?”

Just as Kasumi finished her sentence, she heard a couple talk about them.

“My...look at that table.”

“They must not normally have the opportunity to eat such exquisite food.”

“I can only imagine what their parents must be like.”

“...What was that?” Ryuji said, as the couple was walking away, but he felt like he was going to throw up shortly after.

“...Dammit, we don’t have time for that... C’mon, let’s go...” Ryuji said, looking at Ren. They both had left their way towards the bathroom. Kasumi was slightly grinning at the two of them as they had left while Ann didn’t really say anything.

“So, Ann-senpai...”

“Yes, Kasumi?”

“What do you think of Ryuji?”

“..Huh? What do you mean?” Ann asked.

“You know...like, are you interested in him, is he your type?” Kasumi said, with a grin.

“W-What!? Where did that come from!?” Ann said, her face going a bit red.

“Well, you two do look like you’d be cute together, so I was curious really.”

Ann went silent for a moment. She was thinking up coming up with a proper answer so that Kasumi wouldn’t have been able to tease her. But then it just hit her.

“Well, you would be cute with Ren too!”

Kasumi went slightly red again, she wasn’t expecting to have the tables be turned on her like that.

“...Fine, you made your point. Let’s stop teasing each other now.”

“That’s fine by me!” Ann said. “Well anyway, I’m going to grab more food, do you want to come with me?”

“Sure! I still feel a bit more hungry anyway.”

They both had decided to grab more again, and while they were returning to their seat, a woman accidentally bumped into them of her own accord and dropped her plate as a result, with Kasumi and Ann being a bit surprised at the speed the events have folded before them, and causing everyone else to look at them.

“Watch where you’re going!” The lady angrily said.

“What? You bumped into us.” Ann said.

“No, you were walking towards me and caused me to drop my plate!” The lady said, frustratedly. She just puffed and left the scene to grab more food again, with all the workers looking at them like they were in the wrong, even though they actually weren’t.

Both of them got angry at this event and they just decided to sit back at the table again to continue eating what they grabbed. They felt like they were out of place all things considered.

They just decided to wait for Ren and Ryuji to come back after they were done eating and, not too long after, they came back eventually.

“What took you so long!?” Ann asked angrily at the two of them.

“...Why are you all so pissy?” Ryuji asked.

“Sorry... we had a run-in with some woman a second ago. She bumped into me, but then said it was all my fault when she dropped her plate...”

“...Sounds like a real bitch.” Ryuji said.

“Yeah, thanks though...”

“You should watch out for your language, Ryuji-senpai.” Kasumi said.

“Sorry, I can’t help it sometimes.” Ryuji said, and went to sit down with Ren doing the same.

“Still... it feels like we’re out of place here.”

“It always feels like that.” Ren said.

“Yeah...no matter where I have been in, it always feels like I’m out of place too...” Kasumi said.

Kasumi realized how late it was getting after she looked at her phone to check the time.

“Oh, it’s starting to get really late for me. I really should be on my way home now...” Kasumi said, with a disappointed voice.

“We’ll be sticking around a bit more before we leave, will you be alright on your own Kasumi?” Ren asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll talk to you later, senpai!” Kasumi said, leaving the hotel to make her way home. She was sad that it couldn’t last a bit longer, but she did have fun even though that lady was rude to them. By the time Kasumi got to her home again, she decided to do some basic gymnastics moves in her room to burn what she had eaten today, before going to sleep to prepare for school again.

She realized exams were also coming up. She figured she’d be able to handle them just fine, but she still wanted to study with someone else in case she got stuck at something. With those thoughts on her head, she figured she should ask Ren about the exam later.

After Kasumi was done with her basic practice, she went to sleep to rest up and prepare for the school again.

* * *

**5/9**

Those last few days, nothing much was really happening. Kasumi was still studying on her own accord and she had to go practice on Sunday, which was quite brutal. However there was very little time left for the exams and there were still some things Kasumi needed to study to get it done.

Unfortunately for her, it was Science, which was a subject she wasn’t particularly good at.

However, Ren did help her through with it before, so if there was as good as any time to ask him, it would have to have been now after school.

Kasumi:

_ Senpai, do you mind if we study together for those 2 days? I really need your help to pass through my exams. _

Ren:

_ Sure, I have studied enough so I think I can lend you a hand. _

Kasumi:

_ Thank you so much! Where should we study? _

Ren:

_ Do you know cafe Leblanc? _

Kasumi:

_ I think I have heard of it. _

Kasumi:

_ It’s in the Yongen-Jaya district, right? _

Ren:

_ Yup, let’s meet up there if that’s fine. We can go together as well. _

Kasumi:

_ Sure thing, senpai! Let’s go together! I’ll be waiting at the school gates. _

Kasumi closed her phone and decided to wait at the school gates until Ren had arrived, and both of them made their way to Yongen-Jaya district using the train to travel. After what felt like a bit of a long trip, they had finally arrived. During this time, Kasumi texted her father to let him know she will be probably late because she’s going to be studying with Ren, to which her father had approved.

Ren had entered before her first, Sojiro not noticing Kasumi behind her.

“Ah, you’re back. You should go study since your exams are near-“

Sojiro was cut off by Kasumi entering the cafe.

“Hoo boy. You made a girlfriend already?” Sojiro said, with a smirk.

Kasumi’s face went a bit red. Of all the people who could’ve teased her, she wasn’t expecting the cafe owner to do it.

“It’s not like that, boss.” Ren said.

“He’s still trying to win my heart though.” Kasumi said with a grin, to which Ren’s face went red, prompting Sojiro to laugh.

“A-Anyway... we’re here to study together for the exam.”

“Sure, I’ll give you two some curry. It’ll be on me today.”

“Really? Is that okay?” Kasumi asked.

“Yup, you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Ah, boss. Make sure to have 3 plates for her, Kasumi tends to eat a lot.”

“Is that so? Very well.” Sojiro got to work on making the curry, while Kasumi was still blushing ever slightly from the fact that she won’t have to pay anything for the dinner. But she was still happy that Ren was going to help her out with the exam.

While they were studying, Sojiro eventually brought them their curry, they took a break to eat their curry and continued studying afterwards. Thanks to Ren’s help, Kasumi was able to understand the subject easily.

“Senpai, thank you for your help for today. There’s still a bit more for me to cover, but I should be able to handle it and be ready for the exam tomorrow with your help. I really should get going before I miss the last train.”

“Of course, we can meet up in Leblanc again.”

“Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

Kasumi packed up her books and study notes in her bag, and she got up, preparing to leave the cafe.

“Oh, thank you for the curry, Mr... uh....”

“You can call me Sojiro. Nice to meet you, Kasumi.”

“Nice to meet you too, Sojiro!”

“Make sure to keep him out of trouble, you hear?”

“Sure, I’ll do my best!” Kasumi said, with a grin.

“Oh, I’ll escort you.” Ren said.

“Sure, senpai. Let’s go.”

Both of them left the cafe as Kasumi was waving at Sojiro. Kasumi’s phone rang, it was her dad saying that her father will come pick her up at the station she will drop off at.

“Oh, we’ve arrived..” Kasumi said, with a slight tone of disappointment.

“Can you take it from here?” Ren asked.

“Yup, I can take it from here. Thank you for today, senpai!” Kasumi said, making her way to the underground and waving at Ren.

“No problem.” Ren simply said, making his way to Leblanc.

With that, Kasumi had finally made her way home and went to sleep early at home to prepare for her exams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the 2 week wait, but I hope the length makes up for the wait!
> 
> With that out of the way, it's time to give a shoutout!  
> Doq's work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919799  
> Dev0ted's works: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800358
> 
> Thank you to Doq for beta reading my chapters up to this point even if you didn't beta this one, and to Dev0ted for his support!


	6. A Lost Soul

**5/13**

The exams were going the same as usual for Kasumi, they weren’t too bad or anything, but for some reason they were called to an assembly in the afternoon. She thought it might be about the recent Kamoshida accident that has happened. On her way inside, she had met up with the others and not too long after, Principal Kobayakawa got on the stage, starting his speech.

“Ever since that specific incident, many of you have voiced concerns that I could not bear to ignore. We believe the mental health of our student body is absolutely vital, so we’ve acquired the services of a therapist.” The principal paused for a moment. “The floor is yours, Doctor…”

Dr. Maruki had got on the stage, wearing his usual clothes. Kasumi was surprised to see that it was Dr. Maruki himself who was selected as the therapist. She figured she could go talk to him after this assembly is over.

“Isn’t he hot?” A girl said, with the others talking and agreeing with this statement.

“It’s nice to meet you all.” Dr. Maruki said.

“Whoa, his voice is sexy.” Another girl said.

“My name is--” 

The microphone broke for a short moment as Dr. Maruki was speaking, prompting him to touch the microphone to make sure it was working properly. After it was seemingly working fine again, he continued his speech.

“My name is Takuto Maruki. Thank you for welcoming me to your school.”

Dr. Maruki tried to bow towards the students as a gesture of respect, but he ended up hitting his head on the microphone itself by accident.

“No need to be formal with me, though. I’m just here to council anyone who’s interested. You can even call me Doc, if that would make you feel more comfortable. Any assistance you need, I’ll be-- Oh… I guess I’m not really any good for helping with money problems…”

Dr. Maruki said that as a joke, to which some students laughed at. However, the Principal pushed Dr. Maruki out of the way to start speaking..

“...Thank you, Dr. Maruki. This assembly is now over.”

Everyone had left the gym. Kasumi and others were on their way to leave the school as well, until Ryuji stopped them at one of the intersections.

“Yo.”

Everyone in the group turned to him.

“You ever expect this place to actually give a shit about our mental health?” Ryuji said.

“Well, our school’s made national news. Maybe they figured they’d look even worse if they didn’t do anything for us.”

“Yeah, and at least this is a good first step, I think…” Kasumi said.

“And Doctor, uh… Doctor Whatshisname.”

“Maruki.” Ann said.

“Yeah-- Wasn’t that guy just basically clownin’ it up onstage? You really think he’ll do us any good?”

“I know he can for sure!” Kasumi said, prompting everyone to look at her curiously.

“I’ve taken counseling from Dr. Maruki himself before I started school. He has really been helpful for me!”

“Really? He sounds like he can be a huge help for us.” Ren said.

“Mhm! You should at least try it once, I’m sure you won’t regret it!” Kasumi said, to which shortly after Dr. Maruki himself arrived to talk to the group.

“Hey there. How are you doing, Yoshizawa-san? And the others, Sakamato-kun and Takamaki-san, right? And that must make you… Amamiya-kun.”

Everyone was surprised that Maruki knew their names.

“How’d you know our names?” Ryuji asked.

“Well, I was informed of certain students before beginning my tenure here. Those that had, ah… previous interactions with Mr. Kamoshida.”

Kasumi remembered how Kamoshida tried to take her away from her friends by trying to drag her out. She slightly winced at the painful memory, only which Dr. Maruki noticed but he hadn't decided to bring it up yet.

“Amamiya-kun, it must’ve been especially tough for you after having just transferred here.” Dr. Maruki said.

“Not really, I think my friends here had it tougher than me.” Ren said.

“I see… You’re quite the tough youngster, just don’t overdo it, okay?”

Ren just slightly nodded, although it wasn’t exactly something he could promise or avoid, due to his nature.

“So...whaddya want with us?” Ryuji asked.

“Ah yes, I’d forgotten… I know I already offered my services to the student body earlier, but would you three be interested in counseling? Yoshizawa-san here has taken counseling from me before, and it has helped her a ton.”

The 3 of them looked at each other, thinking of whether or not they should take on Dr. Maruki’s offer. Normally they would have been reluctant to accept it, but since it had helped Kasumi…

“Oh and, if you come to my office, you can have free snacks! All you can eat… would be nice, but there’s still plenty to be had. So, how about it?”

“It sounds really tempting…” Ren said.

“And on top of that, he has helped Kasumi too…” Ann said.

“To be frank, I’ve been explicitly ordered to provide counseling to the students directly involved with Mr. Kamoshida. It’s in the school’s interest… for it’s students.”

“The school’s interest, huh?” Ryuji said, still slightly suspicious of Dr. Maruki.

“I know asking you to be open with a complete stranger such as myself is asking a lot, but consider how I’ve helped Yoshizawa-san. Making this mandatory wouldn’t do you any good either, so might as well as turn this into a worthwhile experience…” Dr. Maruki said.

“Yeah, you can at least have a nice conversation with him even if you don’t want to directly speak about your problems! Dr. Maruki is good at chatting at the very least.” Kasumi said, smiling.

“Thank you, Yoshizawa-kun.” Dr. Maruki paused for a moment. “Ooh, I know! If you attend my counseling sessions, I’ll teach you different ways to improve your mental acuity. Like, ways to hone your concentration before exams, or not getting nervous on dates. How’s it sound?”

Ren thought about it for a moment, but since it’d be mental training, and the doctor has apparently helped Kasumi, he didn’t see why he shouldn’t take on his offer.

“Very well, I don’t see any harm in it.” Ren said.

“Yeah, I would’ve been a bit reluctant to normally accept, but seeing as Kasumi was helped by him, I don’t see why we shouldn’t take on his offer.”Ann said.

“Really!? Then it’s a deal. There’s also snacks too you can get…”

“Alright alright, enough with the snacks!” Ryuji said. “But...I’m willing to go with this too, because of Kasumi. And it’d be more trouble for us if we didn’t go.”

“Yeah…” Ann said.

“I’ll be in the nurse’s office--feel free to come by whenever it’s convenient for you.”

“Got it, Doc.” Ren said.

“Welp, we should get goin’.” Ryuji said.

“Okay, I’ll see you later.” Maruki said.

Ryuji and Ann left, with Kasumi and Ren staying behind.

“Dr. Maruki, I’m so glad you’re here. There’s a lot I want to talk to you about…” Kasumi said.

“Really? I’m always open to listen to you, Yoshizawa-san.”

“Thank you, Doctor Maruki! I’ll be sure to drop by when I have the time!”

With that out of the way, Kasumi left as well, waving at Doctor Maruki and Ren as she left to make her way to class.

* * *

After Kasumi had arrived at the class, her teacher told her about the counseling, after which her phone rang.

Ryuji:

_Yo, are you gonna go for it?_

Ann:

_What, the counseling?_

Ann:

_I mean, I’m willing to go for it, seeing as how his counseling apparently helped Kasumi._

Kasumi:

_Yup, Dr. Maruki really helped me through when I was feeling down. I felt so much better after I took counseling from him!_

Ren:

_Yeah, I say we should go take it, I don’t see a reason as to why we shouldn’t._

Ren:

_Besides, we might get in trouble if we don’t actually go._

Ryuji:

_Crap, you have a point… well if you guys are goin’, I don’t see why I shouldn’t._

Ann:

_It’s settled then._

Kasumi:

_Anyway, focus on your classes now you three! Good luck, let’s meet up later!_

With that, Kasumi turned off her phone and prepared herself once again for the rest of the school.

After the classes had ended, Kasumi went to take counseling from Dr. Maruki once Ann was done. Before she entered the office however, she felt nervous and anxious. She felt like he didn’t deserve his help because she didn’t really have any way to repay his kindness.

* * *

She knocked on the door, and after she had heard the Doc say “Come in!”, she opened the door slowly and entered, waving at the Doctor.

“Hi, Dr. Maruki!”

“Yoshizawa-san! How are you doing since the last time we’ve met?”

“I’ve been doing well, although there were some things on my mind, and I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while too, but I was anxious to do so because you had helped me a lot before already…”

“Yoshizawa-san, my door is always open, I’m always willing to listen to you whenever you need to talk or get counseling from me.”

“Thank you, Dr. Maruki…”

“Come on, sit down.” Dr. Maruki looked towards the empty seat, to which Kasumi nodded and decided to sit down.

“So, do you want to talk about anything that’s bothering you, or do you just want to chat? You can even take some snacks and leave if you really wanted to.” Dr. Maruki laughed.

Kasumi smiled at Dr. Maruki before continuing. “I appreciate the offer Doctor, but I came here to talk to you about the things that have been on my mind.”

“I see, well I’m here to listen, Yoshizawa-san.”

Kasumi took a deep sigh for a moment, before she started talking. “Well, the first thing that bothered me before was...Kamoshida.”

“As far as I’m concerned, you were directly involved with him, yes?”

Kasumi went silent for a moment, and the Doctor figured it’d be a good time to bring up what he had noticed earlier.

“I noticed you slightly winced when his name was brought up in the afternoon while we were talking, it seems like there’s still something about him bothering you.”

Kasumi looked at the ground for a moment again, before turning to the Doctor and finally speaking up.

“When he grabbed my arm at that moment, I was scared of the claims being true of Kamoshida... I thought I…”

Kasumi stopped for a second or two before continuing.

“I thought he was going to abuse me too… If Ren and the others weren't there to protect me from him, I might have been a victim too….”

“It’s alright now, Yoshizawa-san. As long as you get it all off your chest…”

“I just wish, the school would’ve done something about him instead of letting him do whatever he wants like that for so long, I wouldn’t have to experience that feeling of fear if they have had…”

Kasumi took a deep breath, indicating she was done….for now.

“I see...you’ve been holding out quite well so far, Yoshizawa-san. But I understand where the frustration is coming from regarding the school… You came here of your own accord even though you were actually forced to take counseling as well since you were involved with Kamoshida.”

Kasumi nodded, and the Doctor continued.

“Yoshizawa-san, I know this doesn’t mean much, but Kamoshida was put behind the bars, you don’t really have much to fear about him now. While the fear you received would be hard to get over, as long as you have friends that are backing you up, you’ll come out stronger in the end.”

“...Dr. Maruki…” Kasumi smiled just a little bit.

“You seemed like you’ve made friends after you got to school here, did it not make you feel any better when you did?”

“It actually did...I was feeling sad over what people were thinking about me, and nobody seemed to be wanted to be my friend, which was when I really wanted to talk to you, but after I’ve become friends with Ren, Ryuji and Ann-senpai, I’ve felt much better.”

“That’s some progress, Yoshizawa-san! If you continue hanging out with them, I’m sure you’ll be alright. And if you wanted to, I could also be your friend as well.” Dr. Maruki said, smiling at her.

“You really think so, Dr. Maruki…?”

“Of course! I don’t see why we can’t be.”

“...I’d like that, you’ve already helped me twice, Dr. Maruki.” She said, smiling at him.

“I’m just doing my job, really.” Maruki said, smiling back at her. “Do you have anything more you want to say?”

“Well...sometimes I’d get a headache whenever I tried doing a certain thing, and sometimes the other people around me looked like I’ve...forgot something, but I can’t tell what. I was really confused by all this and I thought you’d know what’s wrong with me…?”

“Hmm…” Dr. Maruki figured what this was all about, but he knew what he should do.

“Yoshizawa-san, do people still look at you like that?”

“No… but it was something that has been bothering me in the back of my mind.”

“Well, should we try something we did before once again when I first counseled you before school started?”

“Okay…”

“Close your eyes, Yoshizawa-san. And think about those you care about.”

Kasumi closed her eyes once again and thought about those she had made friends with. Ryuji, Ann and...Ren-senpai. They were all dear to him, and she would want nothing more than to be friends with them even after school as well.

And then it happened again. The trouble on the back of her head has been completely erased off her memory, she once again felt the same type of happiness she felt when Dr. Maruki helped her.

“So, how do you feel once again?”

“...I feel really wonderful, Doctor Maruki. Thank you once again!”

“It’s no problem! Come by again if you have anything more you want to talk about!”

“I will! Oh, Doctor Maruki, can I get your contact information?”

“Sure, Yoshizawa-san.”

They held out their phones next to each other and after each of their phones beeped, they had each other’s contact information.

After which, she got up and made her way outside, with Dr. Maruki following her out as well.

“I forgot to give you a snack while we were busy talking, Yoshizawa-san. Do you want to take one?”

She smiled at him.

“That’s not really necessary, Dr. Maruki. But thank you for the offer!” She nodded at him.

Ren had arrived in front of the office shortly after, prompting them both to turn at him.

“Ah, senpai! Are you here to take a counseling session as well?”

“Yup, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get one.” Ren said.

“Dr. Maruki is a wonderful counselor like I’ve said in the afternoon, I’m sure you’ll enjoy talking to him!”

“Don’t go overselling me too hard, Yoshizawa-san--I’m really nothing special.”

“Well, I need to get going. See you later, senpai!” She said, leaving the area and the 2 of them alone. After Kasumi reached class and put her belongings in the bag, she decided to leave the school to rest at home so that she can prepare for the final day of the midterms.

* * *

**5/14**

Today was the last day of the exams for Kasumi. She felt like she was doing okay on the exams at the very least. She has been eagerly looking forward to finishing this last exam as well. 

As usual, she had packed her stuff and made her way to the station. She had seen two familiar faces as she had arrived at the station. 

“Good morning!” Kasumi started, looking at the two of them. 

“Oh, hey Kasumi...” Ryuji said, still tired from that all nighter he did. 

“Morning, Kasumi.” Ren said. He seemed energetic compared to Ryuji at least, probably because he has been studying for his exams so they weren’t all that bad. 

“How are your exams going so far?” Kasumi asked. 

“Mine’s going okay so far, not that bad at all.” Ren said. 

“I think I effed up for the exams...” Ryuji said. 

“Ryuji-senpai, didn’t you study for your exams? 

“Nope. He wanted to study but he apparently ended up playing games all night instead.” Ren said. 

Kasumi blinked for a moment, and then she started laughing afterwards at Ryuji. 

“H-Hey! It’s not that funny!” 

“I’m sorry, Ryuji-senpai! I just wasn’t expecting that!” She said, continuing to laugh. 

After she had finally calmed down, Ryuji looked at her a bit angrily but then he saw Ann coming towards the group. 

“Mornin’...” Ann said, yawning. 

“Yo, look who else is yawnin’!” Ryuji said. 

“Exams are almost over, so I thought I’d make one last effort across the finish line.” Ann said. 

“Well, hopefully your efforts will pay off today Ann-senpai!” Kasumi said. 

“Yeah, I hope so—“ 

Ann cut herself off and looked towards behind her. 

“Am I imagining things...?” 

“What’s wrong?” Ren asked. 

“What, you see a groper or something?” Ryuji asked. 

“Is everything alright, Ann-senpai?” Kasumi asked. 

“No, that’s not it...it’s nothing...” Ann said. 

Nobody was sure what to make out of that, but they all got aboard the train that had finally arrived and made their way to school. It was once again a crowded train, where each of them were forced to stay on foot as they were travelling. 

Kasumi wished there’d have been a better way to travel to the school without having to travel on foot like this. It’s not that it was uncomfortable or tiring for her, she could easily handle it, she just wished that she would’ve been able to find comfort while going to school. But even if she managed to find a seat, she’d probably give it to someone who’s old anyway. 

The train had finally arrived at the station they were supposed to get off at. As they were making their way up to the escalator, Ann looked behind her again and... 

“Oh my god! That guy got off! Isn’t this bad...?” 

Kasumi and Ren looked down towards the escalators to see who it could be, but Kasumi didn’t notice anyone that particularly stood out. 

Ryuji in response just yawned, ignoring her. 

“Hey, at least act like you care!” Ann said, to Ryuji. 

“Fine, come on.” Ryuji said, walking up the moving escalator. Others were confused as to what he had planned, but he filled them on what he had in mind. 

A few moments later, Ann was standing alone just about fifteen meters away from the underground entrance. Someone was approaching her and the others were eagerly waiting on what he had planned, until the person got closer to Ann. Kasumi, Ryuji and Ann had stopped him in his tracks. They decided to take a look at the boy and he’s had...an unique appearance. 

Ryuji turned to Ann and decided to speak up. “Hey uh... are you sure it’s him or are you just that self-conscious?” 

Ann growled for a moment. “Not that-“ 

“Is there something you want?” The boy speaked. 

Ann growled again and got in front of the boy angrily. 

“That’s my line! And you were the one stalking me!” 

“Stalking you...? That’s outrageous.” The boy said. 

“I know you’ve been following me, ever since the train!” Ann said. 

“That’s because...” The boy stopped for a moment, and then a car came up honking at them. 

“My goodness! I’ve wondered why you left the car. So this is where your passion led. All's well that ends well!” The man in the car started laughing after he said that. 

“I saw you from the car... and I couldn’t help myself from chasing after you. I didn’t even notice the calls from sensei... But thank goodness, I caught up to you.” 

“Ok...” Ann said. 

“What?” Ryuji trying to figure out. 

“Um...” Kasumi was just as clueless as others. 

Ren didn’t even know what to say. 

The boy started talking again. “You’re the woman I’ve been searching for all this time! Please, won’t you—“ 

“W-Wait a minute, I—“ Ann went off. 

Everyone had thought that he was going to ask Ann out, but instead he asked something they weren’t expecting at all. 

“—Be the model for my next art piece!?” The boy finally finished his sentence. 

Everyone in the group looked at him confusedly, because they all thought he was going to ask Ann out or something like that. 

“...Model?” Ann said. 

“All that I’ve drawn till now has been lacking, but I feel a passion from you unlike anyone else.” The boy said. 

Morgana said something to which it sounded like he was meowing to Kasumi. 

“Ain’t this a recruit for some shady business?” Ryuji said. 

“Will you cooperate with me? What do you say?” The boy asked, eagerly. 

“Hold your horses! Who’re you anyways?” Ryuji said. 

“Yeah, slow down. We don’t even know who you are.” Kasumi said. 

“Oh, where are my manners? I’m a second year at Kosei High’s fine-arts division. My name is Yusuke Kitagawa.” The boy said. 

After he had finished his sentence, he tried grabbing Ann’s hand to which Ann recoiled in reflex and he bumped into Ryuji while trying to do so. 

“I’m Madarame-sensei's pupil, and I am being allowed residence at his place. I’m striving to become an artist.” Yusuke said. 

“Huh!? Do you mean THAT Madarame? The one who was on “Good Morning Japan” the other day?” Ann said. 

“The very same.” Yusuke said. 

“You know who that is?” Ryuji said. 

“He was introduced as a super-famous Japanese-style artist who’s been recognized all over the world.” Ann continued to speak but she said it under her breath, to which no one else could hear. 

“Wow! He sounds really popular!” Kasumi said, unable to hide her amazement. 

The car that was parked near them rolled down it’s window. 

“Yusuke!” Madarame said. 

“I’m sorry, sensei. I’ll be right there!” Yusuke said. 

“That old man’s Madarame...?” Ryuji said. 

“He’s older than I’ve expected...” Kasumi said. 

“Madarame-sensei’s exhibition will begin at the department store near the station tomorrow. I’ll be there to help out on opening day. Please come by. It’d be great if you could give me your answer in regard to being a model then...”Yusuke said. 

“I bet you have no interest in the fine arts, but I’ll give you tickets too.” Yusuke said, rather firmly. He handed the tickets to Ann to which she just put them in her bag. 

“That guy’s as easy to read as a book... You’re not plannin’ on goin’, are you?” 

“...I think I will.” Ann said. 

Everyone except Kasumi was surprised. To be honest, she did want to go visit this art exhibition, especially with Ren. 

“Crap! Look at the time! I’ll see you later.” Ann said, running off. 

“I’ve gotta hurry too...but senpai, I’d like to go to the exhibition as well with you, think about it!” Kasumi said, as she ran off as well, to which Ren was quite surprised. 

“Wow...she really likes you, huh?” Ryuji said, snickering. 

“...It’s not like that, Ryuji.” 

“I’m just joking, relax!” 

“Anyway, we should hurry to the school as well, it’s the last day of our exams.” 

“Oh crap, you’re right!” 

Both started hurrying to the school as well to make it in time for the exams. 

The exams were finally over after four days in a row. Kasumi thought that she did okay at the very least, and it wasn’t all that bad. They all agreed to meet up in a station by messaging each other after the school ended. 

“Mmmmmm, it’s over!” Ann said. 

“It’s over...” Ryuji said, yawning. 

“It wasn’t all that bad!” Kasumi said, smiling. 

“I’m feeling pretty confident that I did well.” Ren said. 

“Anyways, can we stop talkin’ about the exams? Like it or not, they’re gonna come back graded next week. Rather than focus on stuff that’s over with...” Ryuji said, looking at something on his phone. 

“...What’re you looking at?” 

“The site about the Phantom Thieves. I was just curious about how many posts there were, but there isn’t all that much.” Ryuji said. 

“The excitement for things seems to die down quickly.” Kasumi said. 

“So...what should we do now?” Ren asked. 

“I know! Why don’t we go eat lunch somewhere? We still have some money left over from the other day.” Ann said. 

“I want sushi then! Or domestic raised-eel!” Ryuji said. 

“We don’t have THAT much left.” Ann said, glaring at Ryuji. 

“Aww, and here I thought you two were starting to get along!” Kasumi said. 

“W-What!? What are you implying?” Ann said, looking at Kasumi. 

“Oh, nothing really...” Kasumi said, trying not to laugh. 

Ren looked at Ann and tried not to laugh as well. Ryuji was just confused as to what Kasumi meant so he tried to figure it out still. 

“A-Anyways... There are those tickets to Madarame’s exhibit! ...Wait, that’s tomorrow.” Ann said. 

“Are you eager to take on Yusuke’s offer?” Ren asked. 

“Yeah... When I was watching that special on TV, his artwork was pretty nice. Plus, we’ve got free tickets. Speaking of which... do you three want to come with me to appreciate some fine arts?” 

“Fine arts, huh...?” Ryuji said. 

“I would like to go as well! It’d be a nice break from gymnastics for once!” Kasumi said, smiling. 

“I think I’ll come as well, would be a nice pace of change for me too.” Ren said. 

“Well, if everyone else is goin’...” Ryuji said. 

“It’s settled then! Just the phrase “going to an art exhibit” sounds kinda mature.” Ann said, smiling. 

“It does...I’ll be looking forward to it!” 

“Kasumi, just so you’re aware, this isn’t a double date or something like that.” Ren said, smirking at her. 

“W-What!? I didn’t think of it that way!” Kasumi said, pouting, only to which Ann and Ren laughed while Ryuji was confused once again. 

“Anyway, let’s meet at the exhibit entrance tomorrow.” Ann said. 

“Sounds like a plan.” Ren said. 

Shortly after, the train they were waiting for had arrived and they all got aboard it. Once again, it was crowded but they were used to it being crowded at this point. They all left at different stations however because of how apart their homes are. Kasumi felt exhausted from the exams she was taking for 4 days in a row, so by the time she got home she already felt too tired mentally. 

Dinner went the same as usual for her. She went back to her room after she was done eating and threw herself on the bed to finally rest after what felt like an eternity to her. Not too long after, she fell asleep quickly. 

* * *

**5/15**

Kasumi and the others all had met up in front of the art exhibit entrance and they had entered the building. They were surprised at how many people there were in the area. Of course to Kasumi’s surprise, the cat got out of the bag and meowed, to which Ren put him back in and said something under his breath to the cat.

“Will that be alright, senpai…?” Kasumi asked

“Yeah, don’t worry about him.” Ren said.

Not too long after, Yusuke arrived in front of the group, gesturing at Ann.

“You came!” Yusuke said.

“Um… yeah.” Ann said.

“...You really came.” Yusuke said, looking at Ryuji.

“He sounds so disappointed.” She said in a whisper-like voice to Ren, to which Ren smirked and nodded.

“What’d you expect when you left us those tickets!?” Ryuji said.

“Make sure you don’t get in the way of the other visitors.” Yusuke said. He then turned to Ann. “Come now, I’ll show you around. I’d like to speak more about the picture I’d like to draw too.”

“Well… see you guys later.”

“See you, Ann-senpai!” Kasumi said.

After they have left, Ryuji just sighed.

“Are we really going to “appreciate” the fine arts? Can’t we just go home?”

“Ryuji-senpai, you don’t like fine arts?”

“No… They are really borin’ to me.”

“That’s disappointing... It seemed like Ann-senpai was into it at the very least.” She said, smirking. Ryuji was only confused by what she meant by that.

“Let’s just stick around, besides we can learn more about Madarame too. I’m really interested in getting to know him better” Ren said.

They all nodded and started to look around, to which they saw Madarame talking with some TV reporters. 

“Um… senpai, I’m going to go look around some art first, instead. We can go talk to him later.”

Kasumi left the group to look at some other art she was interested in instead. Ren and Ryuji, however, decided to stay by listening to the conversation between Madarame and the reporter. Unfortunately for them, staying behind like that meant they were in the harm’s way from the incoming crowd.

Not too long after, she managed to find Ann and Yusuke talking with each other and she decided to make their way towards them.

“Hi, Ann-senpai! And Yusuke-senpai.”

“Ah, hello.” Yusuke said, turning to her. “Are you enjoying the exhibit?”

“I do! There are all sorts of arts here that seem to capture various human emotions!”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Yusuke said, smiling.

“I didn’t know there were so many types of Japanese art.” Ann said, looking at a writing on the wall.

“Usually, one concentrates on their own style. However, sensei creates all this by himself. He’s special.”

Kasumi was surprised at Yusuke’s statement. Could one person really create all this by themselves? It sounded too good to be true.

“There you are, Yusuke.” Madarame said.

“Sensei” Yusuke said.

“Ah, the girls from yesterday. Are you enjoying the exhibit?” Madarame asked.

“I don’t know how to put it into words… but it’s really amazing.” Ann said.

“Yeah… I can feel various types of emotions from all of these art.” Kasumi said.

“You’re sensing something from the artwork… That alone is enough to give us artists satisfaction. I hope this becomes a wonderful piece, Yusuke. Well then, if you excuse me…” Madarame left.

“You’d imagine artists would be difficult to approach… but he seems really friendly.” Ann said, smiling.

“Yup, he really does!” Kasumi said.

“Indeed.” Yusuke said.

Ann turned around and walked up to a painting which caught her attention.

“Oh, this is it-- the painting I wanted to see in person.”

“...This one?” Yusuke asked.

“I guess it’s the painter’s anger? I’m not sure, but I sense this… strong frustration from it.”

It’d be hard to describe a painting into the words but Ann wasn’t really far off when she said that the painting does feel like it contains some strong frustration from it.

“Strong frustration…” Kasumi started thinking.

“To think such a cheerful and gentlemanly person could make such a piece…”

Yusuke only went silent as he sighed.

“Something wrong?” Ann asked.

“Don’t mind me. There are better pieces than… this one. Come now, this way!” Yusuke said, making Ann hurry up.

“H-Hey!” Ann said, following after him.

Kasumi however, was too stuck looking at the painting itself. Strong frustration… this feeling felt so distant, yet also so familiar for some reason. What was it about this painting that caught her attention?

Pain had started to settle in on her head as she thought more about the feeling she felt when she looked at this painting. Why now of all places? And this wasn’t a small pain either… She quickly held her head and tried to think about positive things, looking away from the painting itself. She thought about talking to Dr. Maruki about this, but…

She didn’t like depending on others all the time. This was something she should try figuring it out herself. She just sighed and decided to look for Ren and Ryuji, but she was confused when she couldn’t find them in the exhibit. She decided to message Ren to figure out where he is.

Kasumi:

_Ren-senpai, where are you at? I don’t see you in the exhibit._

Ren:

_I’m alright. Good thing you left earlier at that moment, because a huge crowd came in and we barely got out alive._

Kasumi just rolled her eyes at his statement.

Kasumi:

_Very funny, senpai. I see your sense of humor is still alive, at the very least._

Kasumi:

_Anyway, where are you at?_

Ren:

_We’re at the station walkway. Come on up._

Kasumi:

_I’m on my way!_

Kasumi turned off her phone and decided to look for Ann before she left the exhibition. However, she still saw that Ann was busy with Yusuke, so she decided to leave her be and make her way to the station walkway.

Once she arrived there, she saw how roughen up they got from the crowd. She couldn’t help but laugh at them.

“What’s so funny!?” Ryuji said.

“Sorry, Ryuji-senpai! But you look really funny right about now!” She said, trying to not laugh any further at their state.

“Anyway, we decided to call it a day for today and rest up at home.” Ren said.

“Oh, alright. Are we waiting on Ann-senpai, then?” Kasumi asked.

“Yup. I have messaged her, she should be here soon.”

Not too long after, Ann had arrived as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for that abrubt end, I wanted to end it at exactly 5555 words because I wanted to be funny somehow.
> 
> Jokes aside, I apologize for the long delay once again. There wasn't a real excuse for it, I just didn't really felt up to writing until today where I decided to write from 800 to 5555 words in one day as to avoid making people wait any further.  
> Huge thank you to Doq for beta reading this one.  
> Doq's work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919799  
> And thank you to Dev0ted for his support!  
> Dev's works: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800358  
> And some1upoyo for the chapter name!  
> some1upoyo's work:  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/25433350/chapters/61683034


	7. A Shattered Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey. I've *totally* made it to my weekly scheduled release once again!  
>   
> ...Well, I guess it's now per 2 weeks?

  
  


**5/15**

“Why’d you guys leave without me!?” Ann angrily stated towards the group, to which Ryuji and Ren just looked at each other.

“You got it all wrong; we got dragged into this huge crowd and we had to leave..”

“Well, what about you Ms. Gymnast!?” Ann said, looking at Kasumi.

“Oh, me? Uh… I totally forgot… but it did look like you were having fun with Yusuke-senpai, or so I had assumed anyway.”

Ann looked at her for a moment, before giving a defeated look.

“Well… I was kind of having fun…”

“See? So I thought it was better to leave you to have fun at the time.” Kasumi smiled at her. “I did have fun at least as well.”

“You definitely did the right thing by leaving that area earlier…” Ren said as he still felt hurt from that huge crowd.

“Right, anyway. So, when are we meeting up again later?” Ryuji asked.

“I’m not really sure, maybe in the next upcoming school event?” Ren responded.

“I think there was going to be a school clean up event this month? At least, that’s what I’ve heard from my classmates.” Kasumi said.

“Man… a school clean up event? That’s totally going to be borin’...” Ryuji said.

“I think it would be a nice pace of change for once. I think it could be fun as long as we’re together in it!” Kasumi said.

“I… suppose it could be.” Ann said, thinking that something like a clean up event isn’t all that exciting.

Kasumi checked her phone to look at the time, to which it was still daytime.

“So… we still have a lot of time before the day ends. What are we going to do next?” Kasumi asked the group.

“Well… I don’t suppose we have all that much to do. And besides, it is rainin’ right now.” Ryuji said.

“Hmm… that is true…” Kasumi said, as she was hoping to continue hanging out with them more.

“We’ll let you know if something exciting comes up, Kasumi.” Ren said, in an attempt to cheer her up. “For now though, I think it’s better if we all call it a day, it doesn’t really seem like this rain is going to let up.” 

“Yeah… we should just head home.” Ann said.

“Hmm… okay. See you all later, then!” 

Kasumi started making her way towards the train station she was supposed to get on to get back. The others however, stuck around for a bit before they have left as well.

* * *

**5/30**

It was just in the morning where Kasumi was heading to school, forgetting about the fact that there is a cleanup event. She was passing by the Shibuya near the station to make her way towards school from there.

It was at this moment a man walked in front of her and stopped her from walking even as she tried to go around him. She was visibly annoyed at this.

“Sorry, but I’m in a bit of a hurry.” Kasumi said.

“You go to Shujin, right? I heard things have been rough there lately, what with that violent incident. You wanna go talk about it somewhere?”

Kasumi bit her lip as she didn’t want to say something bad to make the situation worse further.

“Thank you for your concern. However, I really need to get going, so if you’d excuse me…”

She bowed as a gesture of ‘respect’ towards the man and started heading through his side quickly, as she had to make it to the school. Unfortunately for her…

_ It _ happened again.

He grabbed his arm and made her face him. The same fear she had felt from Kamoshida had struck her once again as she felt paralyzed and helpless.

“C’mon, there’s no need to be shy.”

“Let… me go…” Kasumi said desperately as she tried pulling her arm back, to no avail. She didn’t have the physical strength to break free from the man’s grip.

At this moment, her mind had entirely gone blank as fear and terror was all she felt while the man’s grip tightened on her arm. She felt like she couldn’t breathe properly when she tried breathing, and her eyes had only widened.

“If you’re busy, I’ll put my number in your phone so you can call me later. Sound like a plan?”

“Let… go…” Kasumi said, weakly as she couldn’t breathe in air properly. She looked around for anyone that could help her, but everybody else had ignored her. It was at this moment, however…

“Let go of her this instant if you don’t want something bad to happen.” A voice called out firmly, to which Kasumi saw Ren walking towards them. She felt a temporary happiness as at least someone was here to save her.

“Huh? What do you want?” The man said, as he now let go of Kasumi’s arm. “Don’t get worked up. I’m just being friendly here.”

She rubbed her arm as she had broke free due to how tight the man’s grip was, then she immediately hid behind Ren.

“Oh, what the… What’re you getting so jumpy about? Like you’re anything special!”

“You disgust me beyond words.” Ren said firmly once again. “Get outta here.”

“Who do you think you are, you scum!?”

As the man angrily said that, Ren figured he’d try punching him beforehand, to which he sidestepped as if he had experience in this type of thing while holding Kasumi’s hand, as she also reacted quickly to displace as well. Unfortunately for the man, he wasn’t expecting Ren to do that and he fell on the ground while he tried punching him, to which everyone’s attention in the area turned to the man on the ground.

The man angrily got up from the ground as he death stared down Ren, to which Ren just stared back at him. If looks could kill, it’d be Ren who’d do the killing.

“You want me to sue you, kid!? For making me fall to the ground!?”

“Sure, you can go right ahead. But I’m sure the police would  _ love _ to check the cameras in here to see whether or not what you said is the truth as you were harassing this girl, and how you fell on your own accord.”

Ren said this sentence as if he spit down on him, which the man couldn’t respond but only be scared as he had no way to do a rebuttal.

“ _ Get outta here.”  _ Was all Ren said, which was enough to make the man leave the scene quickly enough.

All this time, Ren was tightly holding Kasumi’s hand and she wasn’t even aware of it. Only when the man had left she had finally realized that Ren was holding her hand.

“..Ah.” Was all Kasumi let out, to which Ren turned to her and noticed he was still holding her hand as well. He gently let go of her hand.

“I-I… Senpai, thank you so much…” Kasumi looked so relieved as she started breathing normally once again.

“Hey, it’s no problem. Did he hurt you?”

“No… I’m alright…”

She let out a sigh and then looked at his face, after which she nodded.

“So where were you headed?”

“Hmm…? I was headed to school…” Kasumi found that question weird.

“Did you forget about the cleanup?”

“Cleanup? Cleanup… Ah!” It now finally hit Kasumi. “I forgot my gym clothes at school, I have to get over to school to get them!”

Ren just chuckled a bit, but then he had a serious look on his face.

“Hey, can we two talk about something at the cleanup event?”

“S-Sure Senpai, we can. But I really need to go now, talk to you later!”

Kasumi quickly bowed and she quickly rushed to the train station to make it in time for the cleanup event.

* * *

By the time Kasumi got to the cleanup event, it had already started and she was told to find her own group. Unfortunately however, she didn’t get the best of the attitude from the rest of the group when she arrived.

“Oh, it’s the honors student.”

“Hey, do you know the rumors about her? Like how she pushed her sister to the road--”

“Keep it down! What if she hears us?”

Kasumi sighed. Again with this. She was getting really tired of those rumors. And on top of it all, she didn’t know what they were saying about her either, but one thing was clear to her; nobody wanted to be near her because of her honors student status.

She did the cleanup by being near her group but still keeping a fair amount of distance from them.

About half an hour later, the cleanup was complete and the student council president was there to announce it.

“The cleanup is officially complete. Thank you for your hard work, everyone. Would the leader of each group please come and get the soup for their teams?”

After that, Kasumi’s group leader started talking.

“After we get out soup, we’re free to disband. Including getting out of here.”

“Oh, got it.”

“Thank you for everything.”

Kasumi felt like her faith was shattered even further. She didn’t do anything bad to deserve this, yet all they did is to just hate on her because she’s a honors student. What was she supposed to do in this type of situation? Sure, being friends with a few others is nice, but the fact that anybody else not wanting to approach her or hating on her was too rough on her.

Instead of waiting around thinking about this further however, she remembered what Ren said in the morning, so she decided to look for him first instead. Not too long later, she had managed to find him sitting on a park bench.

“Oh! Senpai! I’ve finally found you…” Kasumi said, with an annoyed voice.

“Hey, Kasumi. How’s it going?” Ren asked.

“It’s… going.” Kasumi tried to keep a straight face, but she failed, to which Ren pretty much understood that she had been annoyed.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Um… sure, but… where’s the rest of your group?” Kasumi said, looking around him.

“Oh, they ditched me. It happens.”

“...Oh.” Kasumi paused for a moment. “I’m in the same boat as you, Senpai. I was ditched by them as well...”

“Oh, is that why you were annoyed?”

“...Mhm-hm.” 

“Well, come on down and sit, let’s talk it out, shall we?”

Kasumi went ahead and sat down next to Ren. She didn’t see the need to hide her annoyance from him since she was going to talk it over with him, so she didn’t try to look happy, she instead looked sad.

“So, before we talk about that, is the thing in the morning still bothering you, Kasumi?”

“No… I was too scared at the time and I couldn’t even breathe p-properly… If y-you weren’t there-”

“Kasumi.” Ren cut her off. “Don’t worry about whatever could’ve happened, because it’s now in the past and there’s no reason to worry about it anymore, okay?”

Kasumi blinked and she just slowly nodded. “You’re right…” She tried to smile, but it was a weird smile.

“You know, you can do better than that.” Ren paused for a moment, looking at her directly in the eye. “...Or is it because you’re nervous around me?” 

“Senpai!” Kasumi just sighed, to which Ren just laughed at her, only causing her to be annoyed further.

“Okay, jokes aside… Why did your group ditch you?”

“I think it’s because of my honors student status… They have been avoiding me, and even gossiping about me when I was right there…” 

Just as she finished saying that, Ren winced, and he made his hand into a fist. He knew very well how that feels, to be gossiped about like that.

“I can relate to that very well. They ditched me because of the rumors around me.” Ren paused for a moment. “I know it’s tough, but whatever happens, I’ll be here for you. I’m sure Ryuji and Ann will be as well.”

“Senpai…” She smiled much better this time. “Thank you so much. That’s what I’ve needed to hear.”

Kasumi’s stomach audibly growled, to which she had got Ren’s attention, only for him to chuckle at her. She visibly blushed because of how embarrassing it is.

“R-Right… Senpai, why don’t we get food?”

“Sure, I’m pretty hungry myself anyway.”

“I’ll get us the food then, please wait for me!”

Ren just nodded at Kasumi’s generous offer as she left to get in line so that she can get food for herself and Ren.

Fortunately, the line wasn’t as long as she thought, so as she had grabbed two bowls for herself and Ren, Dr. Maruki had noticed her.

“Oh, Yoshizawa-san!”

“Dr. Maruki!” Kasumi smiled at him. It was Kasumi’s turn to get food and Dr. Maruki noticed she only had two bowls.

“Where’s your group, Yoshizawa-san?”

“Oh, they uh… they had to go elsewhere quickly, so I came to grab me and a friend food instead.”

“I see…”

Dr. Maruki filled both of the bowls about equally.

“Oh, um… can I get more in one of those? I eat more than usual.”

Dr. Maruki looked a bit surprised as one bowl on that amount would already be enough to make someone full, but he decided not to question it as he didn’t want to make other people wait and he just did what she asked him to.

“Thanks, Dr. Maruki!” She said as she left with the two bowls to return back to Ren.

She noticed that Ren was patiently waiting for her to return as all he was doing was looking down on the ground.

“Senpai!”

The sudden yelling got Ren’s attention as he had stopped thinking in his thoughts.

“Oh, hey. I see you got the food, that was rather a bit quick.”

“There wasn’t much of a bigger line as I’ve thought there’d be.” She sat down with the bowls and handed the one normal one to Ren.

“Thanks for the food.”

She only just nodded and both of them slowly started eating. After a bit of a silence, Ren decided to break the silence.

“Kasumi.”

She looked up as she was still eating her food. “Yes?”

“We need to talk about something else.”

She blinked. “What is it?”

“You’ve been teaching me gymnastic moves all this time, which I am grateful for. However, I don’t think I’ve managed to fully pay you back yet.”

She blinked again. “But Senpai, you saved me from that man this morning, that’s enough of a ‘payment’ for me.”

“That’s part of the reason I’ve decided to talk about it. It wasn’t the first time that had happened, yes?”

Kasumi remembered how Kamoshida did something similar to her, she winced and quickly nodded. He had a point.

“So I wanted to talk to you about how to defend yourself from people like that.”

“Hm… defending myself from people like that… Okay.” 

“I figured that, since you were teaching me gymnastics moves, I can truly pay you back by teaching you how to defend yourself as well, so we can be even.”

“...I see…”

“I noticed back then that you didn’t have the physical strength to break free from his grip.” He paused for a moment. “Of course, I’m not going to teach you how to defend yourself by telling you to get stronger. But I figured there’d be a much easier way for you to do that, instead. And that’s what I’m going to teach you today.” He said, smiling confidently at her.

“I-I see… thank you, Sen-”

She was cut off by how she saw a kid accidentally let go of her balloon. She got up on the bench and quickly jumped off to catch the balloon by the string while rolling on the ground after she landed. It all happened so fast, But Ren was once again impressed by Kasumi being able to do that, because she didn’t look physically capable of doing it.

“Here you go, make sure to not to lose it again!” She said, smiling at the kid.

“Thank you, miss!” The girl only just said, before walking away.

“...That was impressive, Kasumi.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you, Senpai!”

“Anyway, let’s finish eating first, then I’ll go ahead and teach you.”

“Okay!”

Kasumi went back to sit down on the bench once again and both of them continued eating their food. After both of them were done, Ren took Kasumi to a spot in the park where there weren’t a lot of people, since people may find what he’s going to show as weird.

“So, I want you to practice dodging out of the way if you can’t break free from their grip in the first place. I’m sure it’ll come to you more easily than trying to fight through their strength with your own.” Ren said.

“I-I see… I think you do have a point, though… maybe it’d be easier to move out of the way instead.”

“Yeah, and on top of it all, people like that assh-” He paused, seeing Kasumi stare at him. But then she let out a small laugh as he didn’t fully finish that swear.

“...Like that ‘guy’ will usually get desperate and even trip over while they are trying to get to you. It’d be a good way to defend yourself. But of course, you have to be fast.”

“Be fast… got it.”

“I’m sure it’ll be easier for you because of your gymnastics training, but we’ll start slowly first so you can get the hang of it easier. I won’t actually try to hit you, but do try to move to the side quickly as if I’m actually trying to hit you.” 

“Mhm-hm! Got it, Senpai!”

“Good. Let’s get started then.”

They both got into their positions. Of course, in an actual situation Kasumi may not even have that chance, but this was better than nothing. Ren started out with slow ‘attempts’ to grab Kasumi’s arm. At first, she was a bit clunky at it, but slowly she got the hang of it and could position herself quickly enough to move out of the way.

“You’re getting the hang of it.” Ren said, with a smile. “Do you want me to speed up, if you’re feeling ready for it?”

“Yes, I think I got the hang of it somewhat. You can go a bit faster!”

“Okay... “ He waited for her to get into position again as he sped up his ‘attempts’ gradually. Kasumi was getting gradually better at dodging them as well, until his last ‘attempt’ felt so fast that when she evaded, she almost fell to the ground by tripping over, but Ren managed to grab her by the arm before she hit the ground. Two of them stared at each other for a while deeply in the eyes in that position, until Ren lifted her up to bring her on her feet. Both of them, especially Kasumi, were blushing.

“Shall we… call it a day then?” Ren asked.

“Y-Yes, I’d be fine w-with that…”

‘What the heck was that feeling? My heart felt like it was going to burst…’ Kasumi thought to herself, as she decided to bring out her phone to check the time. It was getting fairly late.

“S-So… let’s meet up later then, S-Senpai!” 

“Sure, see you later.”

Both of them started heading out in different directions as the moment already felt too weird for her. But she didn’t understand that feeling she felt while they were staring at each other. Just what was that about? She decided to think about it later as she had made her way back home.

When Kasumi had arrived home, she felt really tired from how long this day in particular had felt to her. She quickly went back to her room after eating dinner with her family, and decided to message Ren.

Kasumi:

_ Senpai, I forgot to ask at the time. When will we be doing a training session again? _

Ren:

_ We can meet up again tomorrow, if you’re up for it. _

Kasumi:

_ Sure, that works! _

Kasumi:

_ Thank you for making time for me, Senpai. _

Ren:

_ Of course. Don’t mention it. _

_ Ren: _

_ Although I’m being told to go to sleep now, let's meet up at the same spot tomorrow after school. _

Kasumi:

_ Okay, see you Senpai! _

Kasumi closed her phone, but for some reason she felt her heart racing again ‘Why do I feel like this…? We’re just… friends. Y-Yeah….’ Kasumi thought to herself as her eyes got heavier by the minute, and she went to sleep.

* * *

**5/31**

School was going the usual for Kasumi, but it didn’t take away from the fact that she’d feel lonely during class as nobody would interact with her and instead actively try to avoid her. ‘It’s fine, I’ll just pretend that I’m fine so that eventually people can stop.’ Kasumi thought to herself, trying to “survive” through the day.

Eventually, school time ended and Kasumi started putting her notebooks and alike in her bag, making her way out. However, on the way, people already were gossiping about her, because of the event that had taken place yesterday.

“Hey, did you see that video yesterday where Ms. Honors Student was saved by that delinquent kid?”

“Yeah, it must be nice having nice grades and a boyfriend looking out for you!”

“She’s probably carrying a knife as well like that delinquent kid in her bag and threatening people with it!”

“And didn’t she kill her own sister as well by pushing her to the road?”

Kasumi started walking a lot faster, trying to bury those gossiping in her own head. When she finally arrived at the school gates, she stopped to clear her head for a moment. It felt too much. She felt like she wanted to cry, to let it all out. But she also knew it wasn’t the place or the time for it. She just thought that she had to keep going. With that in mind, she pushed herself to the train station, in order to make her way to Shibuya.

But she still couldn’t stop thinking about what those people were saying about her. What the heck was she supposed to do for those insults at all? ‘Maybe Senpai would know…’ Kasumi thought to herself.

Not too long later, the train finally arrived at the station, and Kasumi got off to make her way to the same spot from yesterday, waiting patiently for Ren. A few minutes later, Ren had arrived as well.

“Sorry for the wait, Kasumi. Did I make you wait too long?” 

“No, not at all, Senpai…” She said that as if she already used up all of her energy for today.

“What’s wrong?”

“I…” Kasumi paused. “I just…”

Kasumi slightly started tearing up. ‘No… no… I need to hold it together…’ 

But she couldn’t hold it together.

Ren immediately noticed this, and he walked closer to her. He was going to put his hand on her shoulder until he stopped and looked at her in the eye to get her permission, to which she nodded. After he put his hand on her shoulder, more tears started coming out of her eyes. She wanted to give him a hug, to be closer. But she couldn’t do it.

“I’m just… tired of people gossiping about me a-and…” She wiped the tears off. “And now they are also gossiping about you as well because of me.. Because of my honors student status...I want to desperately tell them and yell at them as much as my lungs would allow me that they are wrong..!” 

“Kasumi.” Ren said, looking directly at her. “Don’t let people discourage you like that just because the rumors about you also include me. I have my fair share of gossip about me as well.” He paused for a moment, thinking on what to say. “And you better not let them get to you, okay? No matter what they do or say,  _ do not _ try to do anything. Just ignore them. Maybe you can even smile at them as if you’re telling them how wrong they are and be on your way. Okay?”

“I…I didn’t think of that, but…” She paused again. “I just wish people wouldn’t hate on me because of my honors student status…” 

“...Shit..,” Ren said under his breath. He didn’t know what to say to help her. Tell her to toughen up? How is that supposed to help her? “Kasumi...I’m here for you. Please don’t be sad any more.” He said, trying to comfort her. Kasumi was still sad, but she managed to calm down somewhat. He thought of an idea that could potentially cheer her up.

“.Hey, Kasumi?”

“..Yes, Senpai..?”

He let go of her shoulder and took a step back from her. She was confused as she was still watching him. Suddenly, Ren made that same ‘attempt’ he did yesterday and to Kasumi’s surprise, it felt as if her body moved entirely on her own as she had evaded to the side.

“See? You’ve improved already.”

“I…huh?”

“You already got this far, I’m sure you can also ignore and be able to move on even if people are being harsh on you as long as you have me and the others for you.” Ren smiled at her.

Kasumi didn’t say a word, she just looked at Ren once again, and she nodded with a slight smile. She felt like he was right as usual,

“That’s the face I like to see. Now come on, I still need to show you more on how to defend yourself.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for taking this long as again. I know it doesn't really cut it when I also apologized again for the same reason, but lately I found it hard to find the motivation to write, and that's why I keep taking too long on those chapters.  
> Thank you to Doq for beta reading my work.  
> Doq's work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919799
> 
> Also, go read Sumi_'s work as well!  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/24716713/chapters/59742802


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